It’s great when a person or trade publication can laugh at him or itself, and Variety is exhibiting good spirits today by showcasing a new video from FunnyorDie.com that pokes fun at its usage of industry-defining slang terms. The trade is well-known for using such jargon as “Gotham” and “Oz” to refer to New York City and Australia, respectively. And all of us who read Variety on a daily basis have come to accept terms like “actioner,” “boffo” and “pic” enough that we use them in our own writing. Variety even has its own “slanguage” dictionary on the publication’s website.

But if Variety is already forthright about its coining of terms, is it really necessary to lampoon the practice? Much of the trade’s invented lingo has completely entered American lexicon, and the Oxford English Dictionary features more than 20 terms originating in Variety’s pages, including punch line, show biz and wow (as used as a verb). So, even though the idea behind this sketch is minimally amusing because much of Variety’s slanguage is actually quite silly, the terms made up for the video are not near as funny as some the trade’s real creations over the years, like “shim” (a ’70s-coined slang for transvestite) and “hoofer” (dancer).

For a much funnier parody of a writers meeting revisit the old “Writers of Lost” sketch from SuperDeluxe.com.