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09:12 Oct 18, 2021 

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all your answers, I acutally went for critical paths. And the customer answered that we were to leave hippodromes in English, so be it, however I am not sure the English speaking readers for this presentation will understand, anyway, le client décide!

00:03 Sep 5, 2021 

A spelling checker playing a practical joke and no one noticing?

Dictation software misinterpreting a word and no one noticing?

As much plausible as this use of "hippodromes" being some kind of company specific internal jargon... Possibly based on some new silly management fad?

17:48 Sep 3, 2021 

Yes but... "roadmap" and "chemin de fer", annoying as they are as corporate speech tics, are very widely used. Not a single instance of hippodrome used in this figurative sense, has been cited by anyone, in any context, anywhere, ever.

17:11 Sep 3, 2021 

and Boris is absolutely fixated on "roadmap"

15:29 Sep 3, 2021 

I agree with Phil Goddard — lot of organizations use more-or-less company-specific jargon in certain fields; the magazine publisher I used to work for kept talking about the 'chemin de fer' — though I now know this is generalised jargon in the publishing industry.
Given that in so many fields of business there are 'cycles' (of approvals, etc.), the idea of an oval-shaped progress chart etc. sounds plausible — 2 linear tracks passing through various people's hands, with a loop at each end.
Do note that, leaving aside the etymology, in modern usage a hippodrome is simply a 'race course'.

13:43 Sep 3, 2021 

I'm exploring the word because I'm intrigued by it, not to honour the author of this annoying use of it.

In fact the word comes from Ancient Greek, ἵππος ("horse") + δρόμος ( "street, course"). So no circularity implied from the etymology.

Looking in cnrtl.fr, https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/hippodrome , we see that although historically they seem always to have been circular, including in the early modern period, this isn't necessarily so: "Terrain plat aménagé pour le sport hippique". Then again, the Flaubert quote there assumes that one is able to do un tour of the thing. So not straight.

Inconclusive, though I'd always seen them as circular (or at least in a loop), and I would bet quite a lot that the author chose this word because, for them, it involves something circuitous, perhaps a round of approvals or appraisals. God only knows.

12:43 Sep 3, 2021 

Façon imagée is one way of putting it. I haven't found a single figurative use of hippodrome.

The person who deliberately obfuscated in this manner to show off, or show what an idiot they are, or someone who once talked to them, must describe what's involved.

09:06 Sep 3, 2021 

Peut-être une façon imagée de décrire des discussions du projet (examen ou révision), autour d'une table par ex (forme oblong).

09:03 Sep 3, 2021 

Merci Emmanuella, j'allais ajouter une note à mon fichier de retour mais je voulais voir si quelqu'un avait une idée ou connaissait ce terme appliqué à ce contexte!
Bonne journée!

09:02 Sep 3, 2021 

Hi phil, thank your for your answer, I hadn't thought of it that way, yes indeed it could be the image of the lane or the loop of the track.
I was going to ask the client anyway in the final note but I wanted to check if anyone had come across this term before in the same context.
I'll use racetrack and add the question in my list of questions.
Thank you for your help

08:04 Sep 3, 2021 

It uses the term 'converger' - maybe the idea is lots of participants with different ideas converging into a single lane.

07:57 Sep 3, 2021 

Pourquoi.ne pas demander au client ?

07:22 Sep 3, 2021 

This sounds like a term specific to the organization - I can't find anything online. I'd just say 'racetracks' and add a note saying the meaning is unclear.

It could be a reference to the shape of a racetrack.