This section serves to expand your regular vocabulary. What separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls, if you want to equalize things) is v o c a b u l a r y. We cannot stress this point enough. People who have a larger vocabulary have been shown to make more money and get promoted more often.

Q

quagmire

(pronounced KWAG-mIr or KWAHG-mIr)

Because this word describes soft, wet, spongy earth (like a bog or marsh) that gives way when stepped upon, it’s also used to describe a difficult, unsteady and risky situation – a predicament. The latter definition is most commonly used.

Example: Jennifer feared for the financial sustainability of her firm as the latest developments in the quagmire of the hotel design project that she had been immersed in for almost two years was dragging her company down.

quell

(pronounced kwehl)

Similar to another fun “Q” word, quash (pronounced kwash), this term means to suppress, quiet, pacify, overwhelm, and reduce to submission. It can be forceful (as with physical aggression) or more genteel (as with argument, debate, and persuasion).

Example: The client went ballistic when he found out that his contractor ordered the wrong material, but we quelled his fears, explaining how we found a local source that was just as good.

querulous

(pronounced KWEHR-yeh-lehs or KWEHR-eh-lehs)

Here’s a more elevated way of saying whiny, anxiously fretful, and regularly disagreeable and complaining.

Example: Though she was excited about how the hotel’s build-out was coming together, Jill dreaded the weekly project meetings with the general contractor’s supervisor because, no matter how smoothly things were going, his querulous nature left her deflated for the rest of the day.

quid pro quo

(pronounced kwid proh KWOH)

An adapted Latin term used to describe something – usually a service – given or received for something else as a fair exchange.

Example: The developers may make some concessions on using higher-grade porcelain tiles, but they will undoubtedly demand a quid pro quo, so we must be prepared to make concessions on some other materials in order to level out the overall construction cost.

quotidian

(pronounced kwoh-TIH-dee-ehn)

This regal sounding term actually means quite the opposite – i.e., ordinary, commonplace, taking place every day.

Example: Sandra’s boss, the owner of the design practice, gradually stopped addressing the quotidian tasks of running the business, which brought the firm to the brink of bankruptcy.