Talk:colleague

I was referred to as a "subordinate colleague" by a manager at the company where I work. I do not think that these two words go together. I think that a colleague is considered to be an equal and that a subordinate is considered to be an inferior. I would like to know if this is some new use of these two words, if I am completely ignorant or if the manager "made up" the term so that I could not possibly comply with it (i.e. I cannot be an "equal" and be and an "inferior" at the same time). Corporate America tends to like to "stack the deck" and I am thinking that this is the case with the term "subordinate colleague", but I want to be sure that I am not the one who misunderstands the definition of these two words used singly or jointly.

Well the definitions say that it's someone that you work with, but I don't think you'd say that your employer or an employee is a 'colleague', so in that sense our definition seems a little inadequate. Subordinate colleague does not seem to be a contradiction to me, btw. Mglovesfun (talk) 19:52, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Webster 1913

Interesting historical definition from Webster 1913: "A partner or associate in some civil or ecclesiastical office or employment. It is never used of partners in trade or manufactures." Equinox ◑ 14:32, 19 April 2013 (UTC)