Annoying Phrases you hear at Work

Every so often we read a piece that first makes us giggle, then makes us feel a little uncomfortable, and then downright makes us squirm, and all because it totally resonates with us as completely true. This is exactly how I felt when I checked out the latest infographic from Citrix GoToMeeting. The online meeting and video conferencing experts have put together an infographic all about the 50 most annoying phrases that we say at work, ones that we must stop using to avoid – A. Sounding like a walking cliche, and B. Annoying the life out of everyone around us. And I’m taking a bet that most of you reading this will have said a number of these on a daily basis.

Originally published here.

Now, there are some phrases here that I have never heard of (thank goodness), ‘Drill Down’, ‘helicopter fruit’ and ‘the strategic staircase’ mean absolutely nothing to me, and I am positive I have never heard these in any work situation, let alone uttered them. But I started to cringe when I saw ‘thanks in advance’, which I think I use in every email, and ‘with all due respect’ which usually means the complete opposite, and has been most definitely used in a meeting I had quite recently. Am I really such a walking cliche? And do these sorts of comment and phrases really annoy and irritate?

That said, this infographic is great as an information piece too. If you’ve ever wondered where phrases like ‘Bite the Bullet’ came from, then you might be surprised to realise that it is genuinely linked to wounded soldiers in the American Civil War, who bit on a bullet to stop them screaming out in pain during surgery (might not be quite so keen to bite the bullet after all eh?).

Do you use any of these phrases at work? Is there a particular phrase that has you gritting your teeth to avoid screaming out loud?

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