As we previously told you, a recent poll chose “giving 110%” as the most cringe-worthy office phrase folks hear from their bosses and colleagues, and a new poll seems to agree, although they have found other common jargon that is equally annoying.
The new survey asked folks what were the office phrases they found most annoying even though they were meant for encouragement, and “give 110%” once again topped the list with over 25% of professionals finding it annoying. Other top annoying phrases include “blue sky thinking” (19%), followed by “low-hanging fruit” (17%).
Top Ten Most Annoying Office Phrases
- Give 110 per cent - To go above and beyond what is expected of you
- Blue sky thinking - Brainstorming in an open-minded fashion
- Low hanging fruit - Getting the easiest work out of the way first
- Synergise - To work together collaboratively in order to be more effective
- Outside the box - To think imaginatively, using fresh ideas
- Square the circle - To achieve something that is considered impossible
- Ecosystem - A complex, interconnected network
- Atomise - To break something (eg. a problem) down into smaller units
- Bleeding edge - A new technology/ technique that comes with a degree of risk
- A lot of moving parts - A lot of departments/ moving components to manage at any one time
And if you’re one of those people who use these common phrases, you may want to rethink things. The poll finds that 70% of people would like to see them scrapped completely, while 74% say they think colleagues use them just to make themselves sound more intelligent.
Source: Daily Mail