The 50 Most Annoying Office Jargon Phrases

Evil HR Lady

May 5

Expecting all your coworkers to understand your jargon is just blue-sky thinking. Maybe we should brainstorm or action a project so that going forward we can think outside of the box and make sure we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. If not, we can circle back and not have to re-invent the wheel to understand each other.

These are just a few of the phrases that London Offices collected in a survey of jargon we can't stand. While almost all of us say we hate jargon, American Express OPEN just released a survey that said that 64 of Americans use jargon multiple times per week. And the problem with that is that jargon isn't very clear; they also discovered that 88 percent of Americans pretend to understand office jargon.

While the London survey identified phrases that our friends in the UK use, most seem to be the same as we use in the US. I admit I hadn't heard "make sure we are all singing from the same hymn-sheet," but I intend to adopt it in my side gig (unpaid) as a church music director. It won't be jargon then, though.

Here are the phrases the Brits found annoying, as reported by the Daily Mai l. What ones should we add to it?

Blue-sky thinking
Idea shower
To 'action' a project
Going forward
Brainstorm
Getting the ball rolling
Drill down
Out of the loop
Thinking outside the box
Touch base
Singing from the same hymn-sheet
Circle back
Strategic fit
Bottom line
Low hanging fruit
Win-win
Play hardball
Best practice
On my radar
Bench mark
Value added
To run an idea up the flagpole
Results driven
Revert
Game-plan
Hit the ground running
Customer centric
No 'i' in team
Back to the drawing-board
Re-inventing the wheel
Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's
Action plan
Bells and whistles
Moving the goalposts
Back of the net
On the same page
Open door policy
To 'ping' an email
Kick a project into the long grass
Joined up thinking
Pick up and run with it
Streamline
Close of play
To take an idea or project 'off piste'
Level playing field
Quick win
In the driving seat
No brainer
To 'park' a project
ASAP

Instead of one of these phrases, say what you really mean. Then you don't run the risk of people misunderstanding you. Although, sometimes, when you have nothing of value to say, being misunderstood at least lets the other person think they are the problem instead of you.

This originally appeared at Inc.

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