Anyone who’s worked in an office has had to deal with that person who loves to throw around soundbites and clichéd sayings to try and get folks motivated for work. Of course, the constant use of such office jargon can have the exact opposite effect and some sayings are more annoying than others.
A new UK poll, which could easily translate here, asked folks which phrases and soundbites annoy them the most in the office and we’re betting some of them aren’t at all surprising. Common terms making the list include “win-win,” “back to the drawing board,” “ASAP,” “no ‘I’ in team,” “on the same page,” and “bottom line,” but believe it or not, those terms didn’t even make the Top Ten.
Top Ten Most Annoying Office Jargon Terms
Blue-sky thinking
Idea shower
To ‘action’ a project
Going forward
Brainstorm
Getting the ball rolling
Drill down
Out of the loop
Thinking outside the box
Touch base
Interestingly, you may think that folks who like to use all this jargon don’t even know they’re doing it, but one person who took part in the poll confessed that even though he knows he’s using them, he sometimes just can’t stop them from coming out of his mouth, especially in presentations and meetings. The offender admits, “As soon as my mouth opens I just can’t seem to hold back on clichéd phrases, and I always find myself thinking about how much of an idiot I must sound.”
Source: The Daily Mail