Thursday, April 8, 2010

Some of the commonly used and often irritating (due to overuse or use out of context) phrases in daily business lingo. Such annoyingly over-used expressions often begin as office lingo, such as "24/7", "holistic" and "synergy". Other phrases to irritate people are "literally" and "ironically", when they are used out of context.

Some of the worst offenders are:

01. At the end of the day
02. Fairly unique
03. I personally ..
04. At this moment in time
05. With all due respect
06. Absolutely
07. It’s a nightmare
08. Think outside the box
09. 24/7
10. It’s not rocket science
11. All things being equal…
12. Keep me in the loop
13. All sports phrases (if you’re not working at a sports organization)
14. My two cents, for what it’s worth
15. I’ve got a lot on my plate
16. Going forward ..

(Due credit to Jeremy Butterfield for pointing some of these out in his book - "Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare"