What's the meaning of "the last hired and first hired"?

[-Yu-]

I'm now reading No Logo by Naomi Klein and I find the book is over all hard because it has many unfamiliar expressions, lots of slungs (I mean words that can't be found in a formal dictionary like Oxford English) and words to describe a phenomenon that took place in US.

When I come across unknown words, I usually look it in dictionaries (English-English and English-Japanese) and if I can't find it I google it and see how it is used or look for the explanation or definition.

This time, "the last hired and first hired" that seems like a key word in the sentence. Could anyone give me explanation for it? I googled it but all I saw was papers or books related to it and it doesn't seem I will find what precisely it is about in short time.

Thanks for your help:-)

[-Yu-]

I solved it on my own. It was "the last hired and first fired, not hired". It now makes sense to me.

Edit: I thought Post would be to edit. Sorry for doubleposting.

[boydegg]

That's it, Yu

It just means that if there is a problem in the company (like business is dropping and sales are low), the people who will lose their jobs first will be the people who have been at the company for the shortest time.

Last hired - first fired!

Words you can't often find in a dictionary are 'slang'. For example, 'knackered' is a British slang word that means very very tired.

Brian

.
Like comics? Want to improve your grammar?
.
Try: http://www.grammarmancomic.com
.

[-Yu-]

Thanks for offering me the explanation but last hired and first fired seems like collocation rather than slang.
In my understanding slang is single word that isn't in a dictionary but used in a certain community, region, etc. and collocation on the other hand is the combination of words that are in a dictionary, which means it is made of pretty common words. If I'm wrong, correct me. So what's the exact difference between collocation and slang?

[Luthien Rogue]

Hi Yu. :wave:
You're right about the difference between "collocation" and "slang." :cool:

[-Yu-]

Great. Now I'm so proud of myself (not really.... in fact).

[boydegg]

Hi Yu,

I just offered you an explanation of 'slang' becuase in your original post you said 'slungs'.

Looks like you already know the difference though, eh?

Brian