Are you guilty of using the most hated office phrase ever?

Come on, confess...

office

Come on, confess...

Words by Jadie Troy-Pryde

So you're clued up on office politics, you know the very real consequences of office sex and you're a pro at making these al desko lunches. You've got your work game sorted.

But there's one thing we're all guilty off that might be irritating our co-workers more than we ever imagined, and it's using office buzzwords. Whether you're an advocate for 'best practice' or refer to your next project as the 'game changer', it's bound to happen when you spend eight hours a day in a bubble of work jargon.

Those over at the job search site CV-Library asked 1,000 professionals what they thought of the most common work phrases to decipher which ones we absolutely hate.

office

The results showed that over 74% of the participants thought their co-workers used these annoying buzzwords to sound more intelligent, and less than 35% admitted that they're guilty of throwing one into the mix every now and again.

The most detested phrase, with a hefty 40.2% of participants showing their loathing, was 'let's touch base'. Interestingly, the least hated was 'get all your ducks in a row', but we're assuming that's purely down to the fact that no one says that (ever).

The full list looks like this:

  1. Let's touch base - 40.2%
  2. Thinking outside the box - 38.9%
  3. How long is a piece of string - 28.4%
  4. Run it up the flagpole - 28.2%
  5. Thought shower - 27.5%
  6. Ping me - 25.6%
  7. It's a no brainer - 25.1%
  8. Park this - 24.9%
  9. FYI - 24.2%
  10. Get all your ducks in a row - 23%

Good to know that people actually say things like 'park this' and 'thought shower', right?

We'll just leave this list here for if you ever you want to low-key irritate your colleagues...

The leading destination for fashion, beauty, shopping and finger-on-the-pulse views on the latest issues. Marie Claire's travel content helps you delight in discovering new destinations around the globe, offering a unique – and sometimes unchartered – travel experience. From new hotel openings to the destinations tipped to take over our travel calendars, this iconic name has it covered.