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Impolitic

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(pronounced im-pol-ih-tik)  adjective

Definition

not politic or expedient; lacking shrewdness or prudence in practical matters; unwise; undiplomatic.

Main Example

• White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was forced to apologize for using the word “retarded” during a meeting with some fellow Democrats when someone offered a suggestion he felt was absurd. The question that has since been occupying this author’s mind: When referring to somebody’s quality of thinking, will the conversational use of words such as idiotic, stupid, and moronic also come to be regarded as impolitic, even if these words were to be uttered facetiously or jocularly?

Workplace Examples

• I am told the CEO is very embarrassed about his impolitic outburst at last week’s annual meeting, when he angrily told those protesting shareholders, “Please just shut up and sit down.”
• It’s good that our top management is taking a 20% pay cut. Considering how everybody else in the company is making major sacrifices, it would have been impolitic if they had not been a part of our firm’s belt-tightening.

Other Examples

• somebody telling a rather naive colleague: “Look, the next time the CEO addresses the employees, at least feign interest! To have a bored look on your face when she is speaking is impolitic! It is not smart!”
• while campaigning, candidates for political office often refusing to speak candidly on some of the issues because to do so would offend some key constituencies and thus be impolitic
• earlier this decade, Sen. Trent Lott’s impolitic praise for Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist presidential candidacy costing Lott his leadership position in Congress
• following the deadly Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, many companies whose names included the word “Tsunami” changing their moniker because they felt it would be impolitic to associate their names with an event that resulted in the deaths of over 250,000 people

© 2010 V.J. Singal
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