What Is the Meaning of Cutting Corners?
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines cutting corners as "the quickest, easiest or cheapest way" to perform an action. Cutting corners in business is often a strategy to contain costs, but one that comes with risk.
Other People Are Reading
-
Etymology of Cutting Corners
-
According to "An Analytic Dictionary of English Etmology" by Anatoly Lieberman, the phrase cutting corners may have derived from "cater corner." In the 16th century, the verb cater was first recorded and defined as placing something across or diagonally. This term was later reduced to "catty corner" and then to "kitty corner." Eventually the term became simply "cutting corners."
Common Usage for Cutting Corners
-
Today, being known for cutting corners typically is not an admirable quality. It often implies shoddy workmanship, circumvention of standard procedures, or possibly something unseemly, ill-advised or possibly illegal. The 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil leak has pundits speculating whether the oil company BP cut corners or simply made cost-conscious business decisions that backfired. In an article in Psychology Today, a former BP health and safety manager says that workers had incentive to take shortcuts. Similarly, the Telegraph online newspaper reports that an investigation into an accidental death by overdose resulted from health-care company Take Care Now putting financial concerns ahead of patient care.
-
Cutting Corners to Control Costs
-
Cutting corners may not always be bad. The practice almost always stems from a desire to reduce costs. Since a recession began in 2008, more businesses are finding ways to reduce or eliminate costs. Portfolio.com reported that Spring 2009 Fashion Week designers moved shows to smaller venues, purchased more cost-effective fabrics and negotiated better terms with suppliers in an effort to control costs.
When shortcuts or changes to long-established processes work, many times they are deemed as innovative. Wine aficionado and journalist Ed Schwartz of the Napa Valley Register recently raved about a wine he tasted that he later learned had been made without all the fancy equipment usually employed in wine making.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit cutting image by Du...¡an Zidar from Fotolia.com
