- ‘Can I borrow you for a sec’ named most overused and irritating workplace phrase
- ‘Dial it up’ revealed as most misunderstood jargon
- Online terms ‘OMG’, ‘LOL’, ‘Epic fail’ starting to creep into colleague conversations
On the surface, it may seem like a polite way to ask for someone’s time. But asking ‘Can I borrow you for a sec’ is also a guaranteed way to irritate your colleagues, according to our latest research.
The phrase was named not only the most overused (41 per cent) but also the most frustrating saying (13 per cent) heard in the workplace.
String theory
The survey of 2,000 workers, revealing the most commonly used sayings at work, also highlighted perennial meeting favourites ‘How long is a piece of string?’ (33 per cent) and ‘Move the goal post’ (28 per cent), which were named the second and third most overused respectively.
And when it comes to motivating staff, be wary of using phrases such as ‘Teamwork, dreamwork’ as one in eleven Brits (9 per cent) confessed it as the second most irritating phrase they used at work.
Second came ‘win-win’ (9 per cent), and ‘blue sky thinking’ (8 per cent) rounded out the top three when it comes to our buzzword bugbears.
Jargon overload
Work based jargon is commonplace, with 94 per cent of workers saying they are exposed to it, however the study highlights that many do not know the true meaning behind a phrase.
‘Dial it up’ is the most misunderstood expression in the workplace, with two fifths (42 per cent) believing it means ‘make a phone call’ rather than ‘amplify’.
A further 41 per cent think that ‘What’s the red thread?’ is code for ‘What’s the risk?’ when in fact it means ‘What is the consistent theme?’ And two in five (42 per cent) believe ‘let’s take it offline’ means ‘let’s discontinue this email conversation and continue it face-to-face’, instead of ‘Let’s discuss that after the meeting in private’.
ROFL
Finally, those with a particular peeve for overused lingo at work should watch out. It might just be about to get a whole lot worse.
‘OMG’ (26 per cent), ‘LOL’ (19 per cent) and ‘On fleek’ (4 per cent) are slowly creeping into workplace conversations with employees taking them offline and using them ‘IRL’.
#Cringe.
Phrases guaranteed to irritate your co-workers
- Can I borrow you for a sec? (13%)
- How long is a piece of string? (11%)
- Think outside the box (11%)
- Teamwork, dreamwork (11%)
- Keep me in the loop (9%)
- Win-win (9%)
- Pick your brains (8%)
- I’m stacked (8%)
- Blue sky thinking (8%)
- Just playing devil’s advocate (8%)
The most overused sayings in the workplace
- Can I borrow you for a sec? (41%)
- Pick your brains (36%)
- Think outside the box (35%)
- Keep me in the loop (34%)
- Get the ball rolling (34%)
- All hands on deck (33%)
- How long is a piece of string? (33%)
- Back to the drawing board (31%)
- Can you shed some light on this (30%)
- Move the goal-post (28%)
Online expressions people say in the workplace
- OMG (26%)
- LOL (19%)
- FYI (12%)
- Epic fail (10%)
- Cringe (8%)
- Swag (6%)
- YOLO (5%)
- On point / on fleek (4%)
- For the win (4%)
- That’s cray (3%)
Need to get out of the office? Find your perfect position now.
I also can’t stand ‘at the end of the day’ and ‘when all is said and done’.
or just be as annoying and whenever someone says ‘at the end of the day’ reply with ‘ is night’, they soon get the hint!
“Let me socialise that internally.”
WHAT does that mean!
“Advised.” All day everyday people are insisting i “Advise” people on things, or if I have been “Advised.” It’s meaningless to me at this point.
they missed “going foward” and “push the envelope”
I have even seen ‘going forward’ in novels! I was reading one last night, and I almost threw my Kindle on the floor! Politicians love that one too. It drives me nuts.
Doctor Doctor there’s a squirrel in my pants…
Oh going forward. Makes me so mad
Yeah well, moving on…
‘The vanilla facts’ and ‘organise some coffee’ – if I ever hear them again someone won’t be leaving alive.
I was asked on Twitter, ‘can I pick your brain, Caz?’ My reply, ‘help yourself, but, at 11.10pm on a Sunday evening, you may not get a reply!’
The person decided to message me the next day, instead. Wise choice.
We had a brain storming wagon in the circle meeting at the company that I used to work for,: a senior director said that he had a vision to grow the company in a bi lateral dimension: a colleague remarked that psychologists say there is a very fine dividing line between having a vision and an hallucination.
bi lateral dimension?
Was his intention to approach the speed of light in a particle collider and enter subspace?
We hoped he would go through an event horizon and never reappear.
You can’t do ‘brain storming’ any more it’s not PC!!
Don’t worry our managers had no brains that could be stormed.
hahaha that is hilarious!! love it
I often wonder if the people using this pointless jargon in the workplace use it at home? I mean do they start to say, mow the lawn with a jaunty cry of “I’ll action that!” Or When asked if they would like a coffee reply ” let’s touch base on that!” A Night of intended passionate love making would be well and truly killed with the opening reply of “Can I borrow you for a sec for a vis to vis!!!”
What about “It is what it is” – grinds my gears….
Grinds my gears really grinds my gears ?
“I’m just going to reach out to him/her…”
Arrggghhhh!
‘Gold standard’. Shudder…
” lets nail this to a cross and see who follows ” my favourite.
Let’s run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.
Let’s throw it out of the plane and see if its parachute opens.
Up To Speed, In The Loop and worst of all Touch Base.
I always wonder what speed!
How about ” I hear what you say BUT” rough translation ” there are two sorts of ideas, My ideas & bad ideas”. So far I have resisted the temptation so say “I never thought you were deaf, just another egomaniacal no-hoper.
i tried pushing the envelope.. but it was still stationary
stationery! or maybe not!
a sign that read – this is not the stationary cupboard , it has moved’. seemed obvious to me.
The bloke who keeps saying …’just remind me….’ When he’s been taught/shown several times how to do something is cruising for a PIP (performance improvement plan)!
i Detest the saying ” its not rocket science ” gets on my tits !!
Especially when they are asking you how to store a bipropellant fuel.
You forgot “getting all our ducks in a row” and “by close of play” – For Goodness Sake, it’s an office not a cricket pitch!!!!
Ducks in a row is from wildfowling (shooting more than one bird with one shot) not cricket…
Close of play is a cricket ‘thing’ though?
We don’t contact people anymore. We “reach out” to them. Aaaarrrgghhh.
touch base, grrrr
So, I hate everyone who starts an answer or explanation with ‘so’
“Kick it into the long grass”….. In an attempt to fight back I’ve made up my own set of meaningless and surreal jargon and like to “float the gravy boat” daily. I believe this to mean to supply an idea that isn’t well thought through, the opposit of what is correct, or something that will sink quickly. The gravy boat is not a boat the water/gravy is on the inside,
“The World’s your Lobster”
Prefixing every sentence with the word “so”. Irritating!
So irritating! ☕
Also ending every sentence with “yes” !!
or “Yeh”………..or “Right” (usually dialect specific)
Or every statement/reporting/ explanation/ everything with an upward inflection as in a question mark (?) Aagh! “So I gets on the bus this morning? And this woman I sitting next to? She had a little dog in her shopping basket? I was,like, “What’s this all about?” Double aagh!!
Listen to the Australians……………………………….ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
(Pick any Australian subject on YouTube – It’ll kill you!!)
I thought I was the only one who noticed this, Gary. I swear they over rehearse the night before.
or ‘wait’
it appears to be rampant in the scientific community. Every time a scientist pops up on Radio 4, you can guarantee that s/he will open every other sentence with ‘So . . .’
Or answering a question with “Okay, well…..” just to show you that they’ve understood your question.
So I’m like… so he’s like…
Annoys the crap out of me too Fabio!
So I turned round and said to him… So he turned round and said… So I turned round and told him…..
I guess that’s why they call it spin.
A lot of these sayings have missed a popular request. ” Can you just……?”
I always hated these dumb-ass phrases. Office people use them to try to look smart when in fact they are totally f*&%ing incompetent and incapable of doing anything properly for themselves.
‘Thinking outside the box’ – the concept is good. Unfortunately it is an overused term, mostly used by office jerks who are incapable of thinking for themselves, whether inside the box outside of it, or anywhere else for that matter.
Since when is FYI an”online” abbreviation?!
To be honest !
Can we draw a line under this?
Let’s take this offline,
yes I’ll reach out to you…
AUGH
My most hated phrase is, “Starter for ten” which I hear and read a lot, drives me crazy!!!!!
I’m being funny but “I’m not being funny” grates me !!!
At least “I’m not being funny but” is usually followed by something that isn’t very funny.
I want 110%
I want to champion blah blah
helicopter view
I think of the John Hackett song where Tony Patterson sings this!
They missed “getting all our ducks in a row” “by close of play” and “let’s push back on that”
I have all my ducks in a row.
Yes but have you run the flag up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes it?
Nobody says `Blue sky thinking’ anymore. Here’s a few more; `How much SEO juice can we squeeze from this content?’ ‘Did you sign Sara from HR’s leaving card?’ `Is this project do-able, what’s our delivery date?’ and finally, `Don’t think we want any old people in Digital…that’d be like recruiting women in the IT department, ridiculous.’ Oh wait, that last one is just thought, but never said out loud…
‘to be honest’ (invariably followed by a lie); ‘okay?’ at the end of a sentence; ‘I’m sure you won’t mind’ (when you’re guaranteed to mind) 😀
I will when I get a round tuit !
I had a round tuit on my office wall for years. TLA’s are what get my goat.
If the word ‘like’ didn’t exist, no-one under 25, in my office, would have anything to say!
I would venture “going forward….”
How about ” do you know where I’m coming from ?” aahhh!!!
You know, like, I don’t, you know, get, like, it. You know?
No one has even mentioned ‘hit the button’ if I hear that one more time……..
Oh and have you noticed all the politicians are starting their sentences with ‘look…’
The GREATEST game ever is this : Put all those phrases on a “bingo card” and take them to a meeting. The excitement grows as you cross them off and if you get a “Full House” you have to shout out “BINGO”, then get up and leave. Share it with a like-minded colleague, but don’t sit next to each other. It’s fabulous.
At the end of the day, to be honest, …
Counter it by writing the expected comments on cards distributed via the audience. Cross them off as they are used. First one to get a line shouts ” bullsh☆T bingo!!!
‘Going forward’
I’m surprised that “blue sky thinking” only came in at number nine. If I were to list all the reasons why I hate that phrase, I would have to write an essay.
Mate of mine used to manage a print factory and some tosser of a management jerkoid said in front of him ‘Let’s throw it on the floor and see what the cat laps up’. So my mate physically threw him out of the building. He never came back…
That is absolutely amazing.
I heard Leanne Rymnes (wrong spelling?) on with Ken Bruce last week (Tracks of My Years) Want to listen to some irritating American? Hell’s teeth; that’s one right there! About 1145 each day if you dare do a ‘listen again’ thing…
There is an easy way to solve the problem of annoying office phrases. NOBODY SHOULD COMMUNICATE OR SPEAK TO ANYONE IN CASE ANNOYING THE OTHER PERSON. Just playing devils advocate here…………..
I thought the idea was to use these phrases to annoy colleagues and brighten up my day. E.g. using Just playing devil’s advocate as number 10 is a bit missplaced because you use it specifically to annoy people so is that the odd one out?
lets touch base
I work with this girl if she says touch base or outside the box again in going loco
cool why keeping the job
‘Any takers?’
Surely “I’m just thinking out loud here” is one
Bottom line is 99% of people who work in offices despise their colleagues and feel that their colleagues despise them. Faux camaraderie is rampant. backstabbing is the norm. It’s gotten worse since those stupid open plan offices. Working in an office causes depression more than any mundane factory job. Only the career backstabbers would disagree.
No they wouldn’t. Well,, not to your face anyway.
I don’t see “At the End of the Day” in this list. Really irritating phrase.
What’s this “going forward”? Oh you mean” in future” !!!
‘Death by powerpoint’ as a phrase is officially worse than actual death.
Singing from the same hymn sheet, outside the tent, horses for courses, run it up the flagpole, touch base…
We’re getting out in the weeds here. Aside from the buzzwords, but working in a technical field where none of the supervisors or managers are technical people is annoying. Worse yet, they will never put a technical person in management. Even a few in the mix would make for better decisions.
I had an old boss who used to say “can I borrow you for a sec” ALL THE TIME, In the end, I had a quiet word and actually told him how annoying it is and showed him this article and I didn’t get sacked! He actually apologised, thanked me for my honesty and stopped saying it to everyone all the time, RESULT. Thank you Reed.
“It’s Friiiiiiiiiidayyyy!!!!”
People who say “Yourself” and “ourselves”, when they mean “you” and “us”. I’ve heard a colleague on the phone to a client say “Can I call yourself back?” And I’ve had a client tell me “Yourselves did a report for myself last month”.
I attended a Schneider Electric meeting in Perth (Australia) back in 2010. Someone strung together the following, “we need more strategic blue sky thinking, upskill the sales teams to gain more traction, so we can apply more leverage to our key vertical markets and break through the current sales ceiling.
I had to excuse myself to go outside and promply throw up.
I’m sure some of my old colleagues at Siemens could add many more pointless sayings to the list.
Does anyone else sit in on meetings and run a platitudes sweepstake?