Here are the top 10 in his poll of 25 (hit his site to see more).
- think outside the box (16%)
- circle back (15%)
- synergy (14%)
- it is what it is (13%)
- touch base (13%)
- at the end of the day (13%)
- let’s take this offline (12%)
- low-hanging fruit (11%)
- value-added (11%)
- proactive (10%)
If you know anyone who uses these phrases feel free to show them this post. You can’t blame the words, but it’s worth keeping your language fresh and cliche-free when possible to avoid weakening the point you’re trying to make. You’ve heard one blogger’s take, but let’s hear your most-hated work cliches in the comments.
The Most Hated Buzzword [Meeting Boy]
goodwin
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:16 AMThe amount of times I hear “At the end of the day” by my Engineers, Project Manager, and fellow Colleagues almost made me go insane until a nightmare of a person took up the empty cubicle next to me. Now i have to put up with words like “Retarded”, “Insanity”, “Delicious”, and 90% of all sentences end with “Aye”.
Phillip
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:25 AMHere are my suggestions:
1. direct reports
2. 24/7
3. five nines
4. take to the next level (which level is it coming from anyway?)
Inform
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:32 AMI 100% agree with this list – “at the end of the day” is one of the most used here in my office.
But with that list all well and good – I would like to have seen a list of alrternatives, these phrases are used because they bridge divides between sentences (Think of these as “extended conjunctions”.) and relax the atmosphere of meetings – which is a really good way of creating connections in the workplace.
Maybe someone out there (or MeetingBoy) has a list of phrases that ARE acceptable?
CubeRat
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:34 AMSome of these are annoying not (primarily) because they’re cliches, but because they obscure thought or promote bad or discredited ideas – “best practice” (on Meeting Boy’s longer list), for example. Some are indeed annoying because they’re used ad nauseum by lazy speakers. Others I still find useful as shorthand. “Touch base,” for example, describes a necessary activity in fewer words than alternative formulations would.
light487
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:34 AM“across it” – I think this one is relatively new as I only started hearing it in the last 6 to 9 months.. but we can retire this one today as far as I am concerned… it sounds stupid in all but a very few statements. “I’m across it”.. sounds fine but it finds itself being used WAY too much “across” the business.
“Engaged/Engagement”… ergh *shudder*
Josh
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 9:42 AMWhen my organisation was upgrading to Vista, people were asking “Have you been Vistarised yet?
That one really annoyed me. Marketeer is another one I don’t like.
Stove
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 1:45 PMwe’re the marketeers, you can be one too,
‘cos saving the market is the thing to do.
olearymo
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 10:16 AMIt probably doesn’t fit in here, it’s more of an annoyance.
But I cannot stand people pronouncing ‘employer’ as ‘employER’. If it’s in a sentence where you’re saying ‘employee’ and you want to differentiate, sure. But placing the emphasis on the ‘er’ EVERY time just makes you sound stupid.
It’d be like going to the ‘greengrocER’ or using the ‘computER’.
Dr_Stef
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 10:19 AM‘The best thing since sliced bread’ is what one of my managers used to say over and over and over in every meeting.
nacp
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:03 AM“Low Hanging Fruit” = we’re cheap and won’t give you the budget to implement a raft of changes that will improve the efficiency of this office, instead can we do this in Excel?
/endrant
Bugalugs
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:09 AMTouch Base! Can’t stand that one…
I really hate “flick me an email” too…
Trav
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:10 AMHow about ‘looking forward’ and ‘yesterday’ as a response to when do you need it by.
Escherichia
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:25 AM“Let me speak to that…” (You’re speaking to ME, not that!)
“Reaching out” (You’re not Mother Theresa)
“Leverage” (is a noun, not a verb)
“Diarise” (Please don’t. Just put it in your diary!)
Mark
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 4:11 PMhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/leverage
Mike
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:38 AMI hate when people talk about the “ecosystem” or use “organic” …we’re programmers…not gardeners. Lets try just plain “system” and “dynamic” :)
Jake D
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:39 AM“Let’s take this offline” is massively overused in my office and really get’s under my skin. I also used to really hate “touch base” but luckily I haven’t had to hear it too much in my current role.
nick
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:54 AMAnyone who uses the terms “talk to” when they actually mean “talk about” makes me want to commit murder.
PeterB
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 12:37 PMWhat happened to “going forward” – my pet hate!
lostincanberra
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 1:20 PMThis all makes me want to touch base with my inner cliché
MRTench
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 2:19 PM“Going forward” drives me crazy! It means nothing and can almost always be replaced by a comma or full stop or just a pause.
olearymo
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 3:33 PMGuys, at the end of the day, we need to think outside the box and realise it is what it is. Let’s take this offline, and start going forward and diarise the ones we hate most. At the end of the day, if we can get it down in a dynamic and organic way, I think that when we touch base next we’ll find we’re taking it to the next level. We’ll synergise that and circle back, and all in all, at the end of the day, that will be proactive.
dfg
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 4:24 PM“This is top priority, I can’t print”
Steve
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 7:06 PMWorking for a US software vendor or two I can vouch for some of these being a total pain in the ass. It is what it is!
One that’s been cropping up a bit lately is “let’s switch gears now” as a cliched way to say “let me abruptly change the tangent”. Also, many Americans pronounce the word “processes” as “processEES”. This makes Baby Jesus cry.
Pat
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 7:57 PMI have the newly coined, compound verb “To impact on”. Why not just say affect? As in “How will a rate rise affect you?”
Greg
Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 9:08 PMOne of the newer ones that shits me to tears is “deep dive”.
Who comes up with this crap?
Lynx
Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 2:34 PMFirst world problems, seriously does it really matter if a person uses any of these cliches. Should the person be judged by their work not by how they talk. It’s all established protocall and people complaining usuall contribute very little, most often offended because it generates more work for them, by a manager or up coming member of staff.
maarata
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 4:30 PMPet hates = triage, tombstone statement (just kill it I say), and deep dive AARRGHHHH