Close-Knit
klohs nitadjective
DiagnosisChronic, exclusionary
What it means
Describes a workplace where everybody knows each other, which is warm until you work out that the knowing is what keeps you out.
What it actually means
Everyone here was at the same university. You were not.
How it is used in a sentence
"We're a close-knit team, we really look after each other."
Why this one is here
The twin of "we're a family", with a different lie underneath. The family claim is about sacrifice and will ask for your evenings. The close-knit claim is about access and will not let you in. Both get used hardest during recruitment, which is the only time anyone says either.
Filed under
Work & Ambition — Everything your employer calls a benefit and your therapist calls a symptom.
Euphemism — The phrase hides something specific. We decode it.
Related entries
We're a Family
Work & Ambitionweer uh FAM-uh-leephraseEuphemism
A claim of kinship used to justify the hours and the pay of an arrangement that can be terminated unilaterally.
Real meaningYou will be asked to make sacrifices a job has no right to ask for.
Culture Fit
Work & AmbitionKUL-cher fitnounEuphemism
A hiring criterion that reliably selects for people who resemble the people already there.
Real meaningWe want someone we would get a drink with.