The meaninglessness of "urgent"!

[Wandapec]

I don't know about you guys, but I was thinking about this today after getting another message to phone someone "urgently" - only to find out that it wasn't urgent! Almost every communication these days ends with an "urgent" - "Please phone me urgently..."; "I need the report urgently..."; "We need to meet urgently..."; "Can you do this urgently?" etc. etc. Everything always seems frikkin' urgent to everybody, to the point that "urgent" has become meaningless!

And that's my rant for the day...

Thanks.

[cyghost]

Hey wandepac mate,  move down to Cape Town. We don't know the meaning of that word you are using here 

[Faerie]

Yeah, it can be quite tedious to hear it so often. I usually just allocate them a number, which annoys them, but there's no point in rushing everything, it just results in a stuff up which could have been prevented if you took time and thought in doing something.

Had a chap with me last week whose contract expired and he was throwing a vloermoer about the urgency of renewing it, and if I didnt do it NOW, he will resign, he calmed down quickly when I pointed out to him that considering his contract has expired, he doesnt have to resign....

[Wandapec]

move down to Cape Town

I moved down from Jhb in Jan 2010 - guess where the calls and mails are coming from...? I just can't get away!  

he will resign

If only he would do it urgently... 

Anyway, got to go, I feel something urgent coming on!

[Rigil Kent]

Yes, urgent has lost its meaning completely. URGENT!!!!, sometimes still coax me into action, and possibly even urgent!. But generally speaking, its gone threadbare. Massively over used.

Wasn't there a fable featuring a little shepherd boy warning against this very thing? No, wait, it was a song by A-ha.

Mintaka

[Mefiante]

What riles us a good deal more than any prompts of “Urgent!” (in all of its various presentations) is the smallness of the fraction of officialdom that comprehends the meaning of “Please acknowledge receipt of this fax/e-mail/letter/communiqué.”

'Luthon64

[GCG]

i usually ask for a due date.  coz im not going to stress myself into a standstill, if its something only due like next week.
the only people who needs my urgency, is my bank, my boss, and my landlord.  the rest can, as faerie says, take a number.
i can still phonecalls from my boss and bank, but my landlord just gives me images of burning houses and panicked animals, so i return those immediatly.