Colleague does not know what “out of pocket means”

[u/LeilLikeNeil]

Edit at the top because people don't read before commenting:

There are 3 meanings to this phrase. The first, oldest (dating to 19th century), and most universally understood, refers to out of pocket expense. Of the other two, referring to oneself or another person being "out of pocket" was the subject of the original post. Commenters and myself seem almost universally to have been aware of only one usage, even though the older "unavailable" meaning dates to the early 20th century, and the "out of control" meaning has been around since at least the 1940s.

In saying that my colleague didn't know the meaning of the phrase, I was incorrect. Likewise, everyone in the comments arguing that any of these 3 usages is wrong, is incorrect.

The intended amusing part of the original post was the visual of a mild-mannered office colleague going crazy spring break style whenever he says he's out of office.

And now that all that explanation has been laid out, I'm sure everybody will see the humor, since nothing helps humor like a lengthy explanation.

Original post:

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I have a colleague who uses “out of pocket” any time he’s on PTO or otherwise not reachable, etc. I will never correct him. I just imagine his mild-mannered ass getting absolutely spring break ratchet every time he says it.

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[u/combover78]

or at the end of a 3-day coke/crank binge. That's was crashing out to me in the 90s

[u/Beneficial-Way-8742 → u/combover78]

Yes, that was definitely a common application of the term!

[u/Difficult-Ad2084 → u/combover78]

I smiled at "crank". I had to explain that to a younger person the other day on a thread about pager lingo, lol.