My loveable, presciptivist daughter wrote me this:

quote:

One last question about Seattle: you're out of pocket all Saturday, right?

I had not heard "out of pocket" used that way (to mean "out of commission," she says); have you? She first apparently hears it all the time and thought it was a legal term. However, the partner in her firm said that it's a business term. Is it?

I've only heard it to mean 'losing money'.

Same as arnie.

The only business sense of out-of-pocket that I know is having to pay for something like dinner by yourself. The other meaning I know is lacking funds. I've never run across your daughter's meaning.

Ditto zmježd. One often hears "out of pocket expense."

Very interesting. I'd only heard it that way, too.

I certainly know how you all feel about the Urban Dictionary, and for good reason. But, here is what it says.

From the UD, definition 1:

quote:

Paid from personal funds. Somehow over the past half year or so, "out of pocket" has become a new business catchphrase meaning "unreachable, out of communication", which is incorrect.

Ignoring the last three words of prescription, that seems to cover both the use most of us are familiar with, and the newer 'incorrect' use mentioned by Kalleh's presciptivist daughter.

I wonder if the business term (if in fact it is one!) developed because people didn't know what "out of pocket" meant. They just changed it to "out of commission." I mean, how does "pocket" relate to commission anyway?

I'll bet the youngsters heard "out of pocket" & pictured a cell phone left at home (perhaps on purpose).