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Phrase: For the birds
Life is short.
Very few people would argue with that.
Tell me, then, why do we spend so much time on things for the birds?
There are a tremendous variety of ways in which we could spend our time on this earth in enjoyable or beneficial ways.
Yet, we choose or allow others to force us to waste our lives doing things that have no real purpose or positive effect.
When we describe something as being for the birds, we mean it isn’t very helpful or cannot be taken seriously.
Japan has the lowest level of productivity, some of the lowest salaries and one of the longest times spent in meetings in the G7.
Yet, instead of realizing that most of the meetings they attend are for the birds, they sit there wasting their lives.
Did you know that some companies regularly hold meetings to prepare for future meetings?
Yeah, I know, right?
It’s absolutely ludicrous.
Sure, everyone has wasted time in useless meetings.
When I was working for a private English language school here in Japan, it was mandatory for me to attend morning meetings.
These meetings were conducted in Japanese.
At that time, I understood three words in Japanese: kamikaze, arigato and konnichiwa.
Only one was used in the meeting at the very end – arigato.
Those meetings were for the birds.
Before ending this post, let me share the origin of the phrase for the birds.
It comes from birds picking seeds out of horse sh**.
Think about that the next time you waste your time in a meeting.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 73.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.