UK alternatives to the term 'parking lot'

Submitted by Mary Tully
in
General Questions and Comments
This is probably most relevant to the UK people on the forum, but others might want to chip in as well about their cultural equivalents. I have recently taken over as chair of a committee, which meets monthly to review the ethics of research proposal being done within the health service (a bit like an institutional review board in the USA except it is in the health service rather than the institution). I can really see the value of a parking lot, where we can go back to the more general ethical discussions that we currently have during the discussions about individual projects. However, the term ‘parking lot’ is just never used in the UK and would sound so ‘American’ (no insult intended!) to everyone’s ears. However, saying that we would have a ‘car park’ for such topics doesn’t work either – it really feels clumsy and forced. And also, we have a big parking problem when attending this meeting, so it probably wouldn’t be the most sensitive choice of words either! What I am asking is for some alternative turns of phrase I could use for this. I have been pondering it for a while and haven’t really come up with anything better than just having a flip chart open and saying ‘can we just put that on the flip chart for now?’ Any ideas? Mary
Submitted by Jason Wyckoff on Thursday June 21st, 2007 7:30 am

"Topic Bin" would be my favorite (or favourite) of any combo below:

[b]First Word:[/b] Topic, Idea, Thoughts, Postone, Brain, Review Later
[b]Second Word:[/b] Bin, Basket, Area, List, Bucket

Submitted by Brian Flynn on Thursday June 21st, 2007 10:01 am

The classic term would be table, as in "table the discussion". That might sound better to English ears.

There could be confusion about what you do with tabled topics, but if you're explicit about clearing the tabled list at the end of the meeting, you're accomplishing the same thing.

Brian

Submitted by Rob Hooft on Thursday June 21st, 2007 4:23 pm

The traditional way to name this agenda point in Dutch is "Wat Verder Ter Tafel Komt" or WVTTK. Almost literal translation is "whatever else comes to the table".

Submitted by Mark Horstman on Friday June 22nd, 2007 5:16 pm

This is a great thread.

THe original word is in fact BIN. Just bin.

I DON'T recommend table. It makes some overly formal folks think that Robert's Rules of Order should prevail, and that's just a black hole of misery you don't want to be in.

Heck, make it fun. Call it the Vortex of Last Minute Items, or the Moon of the Planet of Second Hand Ball Point Pens, or the Waiting Room, or the Queue Pool, or the Back Burner. :wink:

Mark

Submitted by Chris Donnachie on Friday June 22nd, 2007 8:11 pm

Avoid 'back burner', it has connotations of being slightly to the left of being binned. It is used to avoid rather than delay.

We use AOB for Any Other Business so:NQF for Not Quite Finished?
or Holding pen, Limbo ...

Submitted by Wendii Lord on Saturday June 23rd, 2007 2:33 am

[quote]Heck, make it fun. Call it the Vortex of Last Minute Items, or the Moon of the Planet of Second Hand Ball Point Pens, or the Waiting Room, or the Queue Pool, or the Back Burner.[/quote]

Fun? We're allowed to have fun? Oh, that chances everything!

:-)

Wendii

(who has a file on her desk named, albeit hidden from general view, Wendii's great ideas OMG!!!!!eleventy!!!!!)

Submitted by Julia Havener on Saturday June 23rd, 2007 2:36 am

[quote](who has a file on her desk named, albeit hidden from general view, Wendii's great ideas OMG!!!!!eleventy!!!!!)[/quote]

I *love* this! :lol:

(who may have to make herself one first thing Monday morning...)

Submitted by Vincent Illaire on Saturday June 23rd, 2007 4:38 am

[quote="connick"]"Topic Bin" would be my favorite (or favourite) of any combo below:

[b]First Word:[/b] Topic, Idea, Thoughts, Postone, Brain, Review Later
[b]Second Word:[/b] Bin, Basket, Area, List, Bucket[/quote]Wow, I thought the "Parking Lot" part that Mark mentionned in some podcasts were literally questions about parking and cars :-) Thanks a lot for this clarification!

Submitted by Mary Tully on Monday June 25th, 2007 7:10 am

Many thanks for all your suggestions.

At the moment, I am considering using 'Any other business' (which we have never had for this meeting) and putting that at the top of a flip chart before the meeting starts. Not nearly as interesting as my other thought - 'The Neutral Zone' - which is only fun if you don't have to explain it. When you do, it is just sad!

I wasnt keen on terms that included 'bin' as it ran the risk of people thinking I was being really dismissive of their ideas and throwing them in the bin.

I was also not keen on 'tabling' things, although not for Mark's reason (I had to google the rules of order, having never heard of them!). In the UK, if you table something at a meeting you put it *on* the table, rather than take it *off* the table. It is most commonly done for material that is too late to go out with the agenda, and which is given to participants when they arrive. If I said that something was being tabled, the members would expect to discuss it there and then.

Oxford English Dictionary: "4. To place or lay upon a table. a. To lay (an appeal, proposal, resolution, bill, etc.) on the table of a deliberative or legislative assembly; hence, to bring forward or submit for discussion or consideration. In U.S. Pol., to lay on the table as a way of postponing indefinitely; to shelve"

So AOB it is going to be for the moment.

Thanks again

Mary

Submitted by Adam Bob on Sunday July 15th, 2007 6:59 am

[quote="donnachie"]Avoid 'back burner', it has connotations of being slightly to the left of being binned. It is used to avoid rather than delay.

We use AOB for Any Other Business so:NQF for Not Quite Finished?
or Holding pen, Limbo ...[/quote]

AOB seems rather standard in my company in the UK.

"Going off the agenda there, can you save it for AOB please?"