If you’ve ever uttered the phrase ”There’s no I in team” or ”Don’t reinvent the wheel” then I hate to break it to you but your coworkers probably find you pretty annoying.
Apart from leaving your rotting sandwich in the fridge, there are few things that you can do to annoy your colleagues more than uttering useless catchphrases and buzzwords around the office.
And most of us are guilty of it. New research has shown that seven in 10 workers use cringe-worthy phrases in the office.
The study, conducted by OnePoll in conjunction with a company called Jive Communications, looked at the communication behaviors of 2,000 American workers and compiled a list of the 40 most cringe-worthy office phrases.
Which one topped the list? Well, it was that old nugget ”Give it 110%”.
Other contenders included ”Think outside the box” and ”Hammer it out”.
If you’ve ever told a colleague ”Don’t count your chickens until they’ve hatched or ”Let’s circle back” then you can pretty much guarantee they were rolling their eyes are soon as you left the conversation.
You should also forget the phrases ”Paradigm shift” and ”Elephant in the room” if you want to make friends in the office.
If you’re wondering what other buzzwords made the list then you can read them all below.
The Top 40 Most Cringeworthy Used Phrases at the Office:
1. Give 110 percent
2. Think outside the box
3. Hammer it out
4. Heavy lifting
5. Throw them under the bus
6. Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched
7. Pushing the envelope
8. Let the cat out of the bag
9. Let’s circle back
10. Win-win situation
11. Blue-sky thinking
12. Boil the ocean
13. Synergy
14. Low-hanging fruit
15. Take it to the next level
16. Barking up the wrong tree
17. Going forward
18. Let’s ballpark this
19. Run this up the flagpole
20. Back to square one
21. There’s no I in team
22. Back to the drawing board
23. Paradigm shift
24. Elephant in the room
25. Raise the bar
26. Drill down
27. Best thing since sliced bread
28. Deep dive
29. Skin in the game
30. Reach out
31. Touch base
32. Play hardball
33. Don’t reinvent the wheel
34. Kept in the loop
35. The bottom line
36. Down the road
37. I’ll loop you in
38. Hit the nail on the head
39. ASAP
40. Team player
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