“Lying flat” etymology

[milktree]

My wife works for a military manufacturing subcontractor. Neither of us have any military experience.

She hears the term, “lying flat” regularly. The way it’s used it means, “details sorted out” or “all the questions answered” or, “ready for the next phase”

We’ve been trying to work out the source and original meaning.

The Internet has zero answers that apply, and a million hits about the Chinese use, which is basically, “quiet quitting”. That’s clearly not the appropriate meaning or origin.

We came up with some options, none of which are satisfying.

- ironed, like for clothes or sheets or something

- all enemies dead, lying flat on the battlefield, allowing for advance.

The only web reference I could find doesn’t give a meaning, but does say civilians shouldn’t use the term:

4 military phrases civilians should start using

"As much as I'm adapting to corporate life, I wish the civilian world would take at least a few military terms onboard."

taskandpurpose.com

This maybe supports our second guess.


Did you hear or use this term when you were active? What does it really mean, where does it come from?

 

[NHKevin]

Never heard it

 

[chopper_man]

Same here, never heard of it.

 

[Andy in NH]

Never heard it

Same.

 

[JoseyWales]

What product do they manufacture?

 

[Picton]

Never hoyd of it.

I think the article implies that it's a civilian term, not a military one. The writer is adapting to a new world where he has to get used to civilianspeak, and he seems annoyed at this particular phrase. I think the context is that it's not a term he's familiar with.

 

[vicorjh]

“lying flat”

Lying flat or laying flat?

I've heard laying flat being used within a program management context.

I didn't have to do much of that myself so I'd sort-of zone out but here is my interpretation based on the context of those conversations:

Some of those programs go on for numerous years ... leading to lots of detail and gating points. So the large programs will plan by rolling up work items as subtasks. Theses subtasks may contain many details and additional hierarchy for cost and schedule accounting. The generation of those subtasks are farmed out to the subject matter experts. This get rolled into a master plan. At the top level you'll have the time and budget which maybe categorized at a very high level. Such as: research, engineering, management, support, etc.
Laying flat digs down into that hierarchy to verify, review, and to ensure schedule alignment of the milestones, payment awards, staffing, and so forth. Kind-of trial run, double-check the work.

 

[milktree]

I think the article implies that it's a civilian term, not a military one. The writer is adapting to a new world where he has to get used to civilianspeak, and he seems annoyed at this particular phrase. I think the context is that it's not a term he's familiar with.

Huh... good point. Now I'm not sure I read it right...

 

[milktree]

Lying flat or laying flat?

I understand the term to be "lying flat", as it's an intransitive verb description of the state of the stuff, and not a transitive verb about what what the speaker is going to do to the stuff.

e.g.: "when it's all lying flat" and not "we're laying it all flat"

I've heard laying flat being used within a program management context.

That matches my wife's experience.

Some of those programs go on for numerous years ... leading to lots of detail and gating points. So the large programs will plan by rolling up work items as subtasks. Theses subtasks may contain many details and additional hierarchy for cost and schedule accounting. The generation of those subtasks are farmed out to the subject matter experts. This get rolled into a master plan. At the top level you'll have the time and budget which maybe categorized at a very high level. Such as: research, engineering, management, support, etc.
Laying flat digs down into that hierarchy to verify, review, and to ensure schedule alignment of the milestones, payment awards, staffing, and so forth. Kind-of trial run, double-check the work.

I *think* this is the same usage, but I'm not in the room.

 

[bfm]

"That said, the civilian world does have its own annoying tics I'm not a huge fan of. The next person I hear saying “laying flat” when referring to something that's wrapped up is getting an overdose of Marine Corps Martial Arts right in the grape."

4 military phrases civilians should start using

"As much as I'm adapting to corporate life, I wish the civilian world would take at least a few military terms onboard."

taskandpurpose.com

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

Internet says it comes from aerospace industry jargon. "All the wrinkles are smoothed out."

 

[vicorjh]

Internet says it comes from aerospace industry jargon. "All the wrinkles are smoothed out."

Aerospace (space flight programs in particular) is where I've heard that term in use, as well.

 

[NHKevin]

Internet says it comes from aerospace industry jargon. "All the wrinkles are smoothed out."

I've been working here for decades - never heard it

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

I've been working here for decades - never heard it

Internet strangers aren't always right I suppose.

 

[Quantavious G]

that sounds like an expression a Specialist would use. I have no military experience, though, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[MisterHappy]

Internet says it comes from aerospace industry jargon. "All the wrinkles are smoothed out."

Perhaps, it goes back to the days when fabric coverings were used on airframes, and fabric dope was used to make the material taut.

Aircraft dope - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org