An American company employs engineers in California and in several Asian and European countries. The engineers exchange email and communicate via VoIP, teleconferencing, and collaborative project management tools. The Americans often use phrases such as “Let’s touch base in a week,” “Right off the bat.,” and “.all the way to the end zone.” An executive instructs them to avoid such phrases in communication with colleagues from other countries, and per- haps even with any colleague. Why?