in the workplace? I think it’s a very long list…
My thoughts are that being a dick is contingent on the situation and subjective to the people involved as to weather an interaction constitutes ‘dick’ behaviour. However I think there is also a general consensus about what being a dick means in different scenarios.
In my experience, the problem of being a dick is most likely to arise if the person is unaware they are being a dick. This creates a paradox because they won’t know to not be one. Such an example is that a person may be offensive and be unaware they are being offensive unless it is pointed out in terms or social norms or the company’s values. In this sense the statement can be inferred as a diskish statement in that who ever commissioned it is a dick. This is a second paradox.
My point is that I don’t feel the stsmtent adds any value and to my interpretation is meaningless.
yeah, that’s basically it in a nutshell.
Hm, I don’t think the purpose of the slogan (generally, not just as used by Huel) is about defining what bad behaviour is. You’re right that it doesn’t do that, and that it isn’t obvious what exact behaviours are ‘dickish’, but that doesn’t necessarily make the slogan meaningless.
I first heard about “don’t be a dick” being used as the terms of a freelance contract. That was it, those were the whole terms. And as I see it, the point of a statement like that is a mission statement: “We don’t want to apply too many arbitrary rules or hold back your self-expression, we’ll figure out how to work together following basic civility and goodwill.”
In that sense, there’s a real point to using a colloquialism like “dick” – it reinforces the idea that the statement is about not constraining casual self-expression.
I would love to answer this question! To us “Don’t be a dick” is way more powerful than something like “Be nice” - but that is part of it. We have 2 parts to our culture: our “DNA” and “How to be a Hueligan”. It’s got a few elements to it “Don’t be a dick” fits into the latter.
It’s as simple as treat others how you want to be treated.
- Show up
- Have integrity
- Be authentic
- Take responsibility
- Be nice
- Don’t gossip
- Be a team
- Help others
I believe it’s inspired by the NZ Rugby team’s “No dickheads” policy.
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From a linguistics point of view, dick as an adjective is an homonym and homograpf of dick as a sustantive.
So, dick as an adjective refers to a person with certain behaviours and dick as a sustantive refers to a part of the men genitalia.
If you want to say that the adjective shouldn’t exist because it was probably created to denigrate men, we could do the same with a lot of words like “bitch” or “denigrate”.
English is not perfect and it has hystorical roots, for good or for bad.
I prefer not to use those terms, but the pun was intended with “denigrate”, I prefer to use desprestigiate
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Positive messages reinforce more than egative, but it’s the way yo express them.
“Don’t be a dick” is psycollogically more powerful as an impact than “Be nice”, but saying “We know you are nice” reinforces the behabiour more than “Don’t be a dick”.
Anyhow, for a set of rules, the “We know…” is weirder than the “Don’t…”
Either way, I don’t mind, just using psycologicall mindset here.
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i intend to read your posts repeatedly and look up those words. until i get it.
wasnt expecting such an interesting response/reaction.
so basically dicks are good, theres more than one meaning to a word or phrase.
my speciality is covering All angles.
maybe if there was a job for this id get paid a lot of money.
but there doesnt seem to be.
yeah if thats what denigrate means thats what i thought.
but the male genitalia is certainly Part of it .
as in , including all considerations…
always wins.
Let’s be honest though, there’s no way in hell Huel would get away with having “don’t be a bitch” painted like this on their office walls. It’d be viewed totally differently.
It’s interesting that telling someone not to be a dick is generally acceptable whilst saying “don’t be a pussy” is near always a massive insult.
I think “don’t be a fanny” would be fine. And fanny is a similar level of rudeness.
I take your point though. “Dick” is about as rude as penis slang gets, but there’s a much ruder word than “pussy” and Huel definitely wouldn’t put it on their social media.
Ha, well, pussy wasn’t the first thing I typed. But you know, manners maketh man.
As for the reason, female genitalia have traditionally been seen as dirty and shameful, at least in countries where the Abrahamic religions took root. It means slang for vagina is much more shocking and insulting. It’ll probably slowly shift over time, since society is becoming more equal.
Of course fanny means a different body part in US.
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dont be an ass hat
is a brilliant slogan
herd it on farcebook a few times
love the bones of it
In the UK it basically means don’t be an idiot
dont get your knickers in a twist
?
dont be a dick is catchy n all, but its not flawless.
i would find it too funny if huel had Dont Be An Arsehole on the wall.
wouldnt work so well
I use “don’t be a dick” quite regularly Usually when talking to my husband
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