Any negative language, slacking in front of co-workers or backbiting never reflects well and gets you nowhere.

FORBES: Ann Curry's Exit: Behind The Scenes Of A Public Demotion

As I say, when I first saw this story in The Guardian I thought it was just this sort of backbiting.

FORBES: The Wall Street Journal Europe's Circulation Scandal

Rumors, leaks, gossip, backbiting, an air of mounting mistrust.

WSJ: Keep Gates

The first is backbiting within the Concertacion.

ECONOMIST: Politics in Chile

Egyptology is a small, backbiting world.

NEWYORKER: The Pharaoh

It is increasingly prone to backbiting.

ECONOMIST: Much ado about campaign finance

Everyone agrees that the tone and content of many of them is a bit shrill and occasionally intolerant (kind of like University faculty meetings), but there is one repeating thread, by one of your most prestigious employees, Dr. Tom Wigley, that is far beyond the pale of most academic backbiting.

FORBES: Climategate II: An Open Letter to the Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research