Seven people were injured Wednesday when the “Policy” and “Procedure” camps came to blows at the annual Business Terminology Conference in Wilmington, Delaware.
The two sides each believe theirs should be the word companies are mandated to use when describing “a set of standards to which a company and its employees are required to adhere.”
Previous arguments have lasted for hours and grown heated. This time, two people threw punches and a melee broke out that eventually involved nearly 100. Police were summoned to restore order.
Says policy proponent Jennifer Huppman of Elmira, New York: “’Policy’ contains just six letters, compared to nine for the other word!” (She refuses to actually say it.) Huppman estimates that mandatory use of the word would save businesses $800 million a year in time and ink.
Procedurist William Tollefson isn’t concerned with that. “Policy means ‘to proceed’ and that says it all.”
Again this year, the matter was tabled for further discussion.
