Grin Fucking.

Doesn’t sound like something nice does it? We British have a way with words that my Sister in Law calls ‘Politely Offending’. “Sometimes Tony, you say something that appears to be nice and I think about it as you walk away and then I realize … hold on … he just insulted me!”

Well, Grin Fucking is a second removed American cousin of Politely Offending and is used frequently at conferences right at the end of a conversation and is immediately preceded with something along the lines of “Yeah, lets keep in touch!”. They say that phrase and give you a smile that you think means ‘Yeah!! Let’s keep in touch!’ and you exit stage left with a spring in your step that only an executive at a large catch could give you when he smiles like that.

You follow up by phone, no reply.
You send emails. Again, no reply.
You were Grin Fucked.

Happens to the best of us. I was at a conference in Washington in the early days and had a really good conversation about a technology I had been building with a VP of a company that sounds like Girth Blink. He gave me his business card, we shook hands, promised to keep in touch and he gave me a big smile.

On talking to a very seasoned mentor friend that night over dinner, I pulled out the card and noticed a lack of contact details, just a main switchboard number and no email.

“Yeah” said my mentor friend, “He Grin Fucked you”

You live and learn.