Smartass explains why "Work Intelligent" poster is stupid

Friendlily would therefore be the adverb derived from the adjective, but I've never seen it in use.
Linguist Arnold Zwicky at Language Log addresses "friendlily" and other *-lily* constructions:

Language Log:Self-Incorrection

why is he doing manual labor in a suit?

Also, if this is a representative sample, the employer seems to be racist and sexist, so fuck him and his cubes.

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It could be worse, they could all be running toward each other with the missing puzzle pieces.

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also the solution is pretty simple: get a larger block, carve it in to a sphere or cylinder, roll it to the destination then carve it in to a cube.

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How does he know the guy with the sphere didn’t lose much headway? What if he is the tail end of an earlier shipment of cubes. I don’t trust the credentials of this ‘smartass’ one bit!

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All of these workers are going to be outsourced by a single guy with a truck.

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I think that it was obviously chosen because it is concise and though ungrammatical or awkward most people will get it. While “Drive in a Friendly Manner” is probably much better it is too much text. Years ago there was a campaign here in Canada with the phrase “Drive Defensively”.

Then again, I recall signs that said “Corridor” which I think was less explanatory than “Pedestrian” or Pedestrian Corridor

The other US sign, (as a Canadian) I get a kick out of is the vaguely threatening “Litter and it will hurt”.

Yar, it be a cold day in hell before I moor in a land without a brass monkey.

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I think it was a smartass in the art department who delivered the imagery for this in the first place. The most direct translation of the graphic is “cut corners”

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Yeah, but metaphorically, he still has a point. The advice to “work smarter not harder” is dumb. What does it mean? Question and alter the methodologies and parameters of the job for expediency’s sake? By working “smart” one risks altering the parameters and output of one’s job such that one actually has screwed a number of things up.

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Well, if he was part of an earlier wave of block-movers, then Mr. Sphere would be really late in doing his job and thus a poor example for a “work intelligent” poster, wouldn’t he? In that case he’d be perfect for a “just do the fucking job and don’t get clever” poster.

They’re doing contract work and getting paid by the hour; the guy with the sphere shortchanged himself.

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This is tiresome. It’s the same phenomenon that causes every internet comment to fail:

Shit’s complex.

It can’t be boiled down and still be as accurate. Sure, editing is useful and helps focus a message, but it has its limits and even still, there are multiple aspects to consider that you’ll never cover without 5 pages stating your stipulations and assumptions, known limitations and exclusions. I really doubt the creator of the poster had nothing else to say on the matter. So congrats, smartass, on your ability to crap on other people’s work and entirely miss the point they were making.

I’ll give the smartass a little credit at least for suggesting a useful alternative.

What was the name of that store i used to get my adverbs? Yeah, it was Lolly’s. I used a comma after an interjection because the feeling was not too strong.

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My take is that the job the poster shows is “making your cow-orkers look bad while at the same time making the job of the folks down the line much much worse.” This is a common and valuable talent given how often it is encouraged by bosses.

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“The right not to work is the right to be free.”

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Wow, way to waste, what, seven-eighths of the material? May be better to carve one cube into a wheel-barrow or a sack-truck, then use that to transport many cubes to the destination in the time it takes to drag one cube.

Now I’m suddenly wondering if all those ancient pillars were transported as blocks and carved in situ, or if they were carved to cylinders and rolled to the site.

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How about just giving your employees the tools they need to do their job efficiently.

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