# Most hated phrases & management speak



## GeneralZod

The CEO of a large Irish company was interviewed on the radio last week. He repeated about 5 times that he was "bottoming out" the cause of a large financial  loss to the company. This really made me cringe.

Others:

"Going forward"

"I hear what you're saying but"  (my boss says this a lot)

"10,000 foot view"


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## z106

"Hit the ground running"


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## ClubMan

> *Most hated phrases & management speak*


You're fired.


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## GeneralZod

ClubMan said:


> You're fired.



They'd never say that. You'd be asked to come to a meeting with someone from HR present.


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## PM1234

[broken link removed]


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## ClubMan

Make it fun!


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## ninsaga

ClubMan said:


> You're fired.



nowadays they tend not to use that & use 'terminated' or 'termination' instead


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## Betsy Og

"Going forward" is actually useful enough. 

The Irish Times had a good radio ad packed with this stuff - maxing out face time with clients and all that good stuff .

Its only really annoying when people are consciously throwing it in to be seen to do it, to sound more important, or to talk down to people, & theres no better fun that cutting through the bull with a blunt translation/recap of what they're trying to say.


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## Caveat

_Thinking outside the box._ Easily.


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## Guest117

" Let's run it up the flag pole and see who salutes "


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## Guest117

" We don't need to re-invent the wheel here "


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## LouisLaLoope

Going forward - I HATE that one.
On the same page.
Singing from the same hymn sheet.

And COB (close of business).  Is it too demanding to actually type out "close of business" instead of COB?!!!


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## g1g

there's no I in team (when they are earning so much more than you, have their own lovely office etc etc)


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## sam h

"Pull your finger out".....never liked to ask from where!!  A female manager used to use this & I always thoght it sounded horrible.


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## Guest117

Especially for you g1g

" Risk and reward "


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## pc7

Caveat said:


> _Thinking outside the box._ Easily.


 I'm with you Caveat how annoying!!!


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## Teabag

"Let's circle the wagons"...


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## michaelm

g1g said:


> there's no I in team . .


But there is a ME.


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## michaelm

ClubMan said:


> Make it fun!


AKA Bullsh1t Bingo.


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## Silvergirl

'touch base' - aaaaarrrggghhh!!!!!!!


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## Lauren

Lets 'take a risk and pay the price'.

We value people who can 'flourish in ambiguity'.


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## ninsaga

Lets double click on that
Lets strategise (usually means how do we get out of the mess we're in)
Lets take a wholeistic view


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## Betsy Og

suck it and see
blue sky thinking
stepping up to the plate
go 'round the houses
helicopter view
push the envelope (brown?)


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## Betsy Og

ninsaga said:


> Lets take a wholeistic view


 

I think its "holistic" but the same meaning, you've just invented a word there !


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## Margie

Nothing annoys me more than when people constantly use the phrase 'in terms of'.  And it's always highly educated people that use this particular phrase, possibly up to 5 or 6 times in a conversation!  I think it sounds ridiculous.....  In terms of what??


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## z106

"We're in a good space at the moment"


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## ninsaga

Betsy Og said:


> I think its "holistic" but the same meaning, you've just invented a word there !



nah ... first time I heard that I asked the person & they replied 'wholeistic as in the whole thing'


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## LouisLaLoope

Silvergirl said:


> 'touch base' - aaaaarrrggghhh!!!!!!!


 
Oh nice one, Silvergirl!  I want to smack people when they say that!  But I think physical violence is frowned upon in the workplace...


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## JJ1982

"rubber stamp"


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## Pique318

Pre-planning.....is there any other kind ?
To 'action' something. I didn't realise 'action' was a verb.


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## Diziet

'staycation' 

Yuk


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## wavejumper

"Let's park it on the hillside and check for teethmarks in the morning"


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## becky

I have gotten "Can you get back to me by EOP". End of play.


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## thundercat

This thread sounds like an episode of The Office!!


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## Calico

'roll out' & 'drill down'


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## Caveat

Some of these are incredible... 

Nearly enough to make me want to drop out of society and live in a tree or something.


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## Jock04

Caveat said:


> Some of these are incredible...
> 
> Nearly enough to make me want to drop out of society and live in a tree or something.


 


Ahhh..........the old arboreal placement initiative?


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## ninsaga

Lets do a deep dive on that


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## becky

ninsaga said:


> Lets do a deep dive on that


 
Thats a new one for me.


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## ailbhe

Our manager used to say "Don't treat me like a mushroom - keep me in the dark and feed me sh1t"
I wanted to kill him


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## DavyJones

wavejumper said:


> "Let's park it on the hillside and check for teethmarks in the morning"



Not sure I fully understand that one, But I'm going to use it in conversion today and see what happens


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## Betsy Og

I'm personally guilty of:

bells & whistles
the whole shebang (not a buzz phrase as such)

...among others I'm sure


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## pc7

wavejumper said:


> "Let's park it on the hillside and check for teethmarks in the morning"


 Wavejumper that's hilarious I've never heard it, do people really say that!!


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## Lulu123

A very annoying woman director where I used to work used the phrase 

"a square peg in a round hole" 

Every meeting was full of "management speak"  I hate it!


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## redstar

".. eat our own dog-food"

".. step up to the plate"  (a favorite among soccer pundits and managers)

".. snafu ... "     (Situation Normal: All F****d Up)

".. make sure we're on the same page ..."

".. focus ..."

"... TODO list ..."


And not forgetting acronyms ....
"... wrt .. "  (with respect to)

" .... AFAIK ..." ( as far as I know)


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## frash

I just heard of "eating our own dog food" in an email yesterday - maybe we work in the same place!

Another annoying one in here is "have you got the bandwidth for ......".

"vanilla system" - something without an added extra 

"greenfield operation" - to start something from scratch I think


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## LouisLaLoope

Let's utilise this as a jumping off point.

A window of opportunity.


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## michaelm

I dislike 'in terms of'; Micheál Martin can hardly utter a sentence without saying 'in terms of' . . tune into it next time he's on the radio or TV.  Maybe it's just my OCD but my personal Echelon system picks out the phrase any time he speaks.


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## elefantfresh

"in terms of" thats the winner for me everytime


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## themetunegal

My most hated is..... 

(Manager): 'I'm like a crow looking into a bottle'


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## becky

Have to say 'in terms of' doesn't bother me in the least - think I use the term from time to time.

'Going forward' really gets on my nerves though.


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## ninsaga

You: eeehhhh - a bottle of what boss....


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## Caveat

OK here's one:

"This is a domesticated antelope with conjunctivitis situation"


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## Vanilla

With all due respect. Meaning no respect at all frankly.


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## Pique318

Come again Caveat ?? 
A blind pet deer ?


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## Caveat

Pique318 said:


> Come again Caveat ??
> A blind pet deer ?


 


Well it makes about as much sense as some of the other tripe.


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## Betsy Og

I think we'll have to have this discussion _off line_    .. boom boom


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## creme egg

touch base is a pet hate of mine,  also hate:
Bring to the table, proactive approach, an exercise in box ticking, 
or one that I hear a lot from a particular senior in here "We're going to follow a strict methodology here"  usually means  we are doing it my way so shut-up!!


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## GeneralZod

"You need to have a tolerance for ambiguity" - Usually used after giving someone mutually exclusive objectives.


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## redstar

I too really hate 'touch base'.

In my first IT job (during the last 'real' recession  ) my boss asked me to 'touch base' with someone.  I said 'Er, yeah sure' not wanting to appear clueless, just starting out in my career an' all that.
When he walked away I thought to myself "what the f*** is he on about. Whats baseball got to do with anything ?"

Since then, 'touch base' along with all other management-type gobbledegook used to hide the fact that they cannot express themselves properly, but want to sound like _their_ boss 
- I hate it all !!


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## becky

GeneralZod said:


> "You need to have a tolerance for ambiguity" - Usually used after giving someone mutually exclusive objectives.


 
I consider 'mutually exclusive objectives' as bad if not worse than 'tolerance for ambiguity'.

I think the one about the caravan and teeth is one of the funniest I've heard. I am also going to try and use it but it will have to be an email as I couldn't keep a straight face..


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## Firefly

"heads up" - really annoys me!


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## Guest114

The ones I hate the most are -
"Let's Brainstorm"
"Get BUY IN to the process from other areas"


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## GeneralZod

badge55 said:


> " Let's run it up the flag pole and see who salutes "





wavejumper said:


> "Let's park it on the hillside and check for teethmarks in the morning"



The above two are hilarious.



becky said:


> I consider 'mutually exclusive objectives' as bad if not worse than 'tolerance for ambiguity'.



Touché


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## DavyJones

wavejumper said:


> "Let's park it on the hillside and check for teethmarks in the morning"



Had a long phonecall with a firm today and really wanted to work this in. instead I said "Ah sure, lets leave it for a  few days and see if anybody bites it". This was followed by a long pause, I moved  on quickly. Bet  they think I like to drink or something. Will have to get it right next time.


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## BillK

FUBAR is, of course, much worse than SNAFU. (F..... Up Beyond All Recognition)


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## S.L.F

I had a boss who always said, "I'm not your father".

I always thought I bloody well hope not!


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## PM1234

A personal pet hate is FYI at the beginning of an email. 

IMO if its not FYI why forward the email to my address at all!


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## GeneralZod

That reminds me. I hate the way some people send all their emails flagged as high priority.

Anyone have a suggestion for letting them know it's annoying without telling then explicitly.

[sorry for taking this off-topic]


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## Sue Ellen

GeneralZod said:


> That reminds me. I hate the way some people send all their emails flagged as high priority.
> 
> Anyone have a suggestion for letting them know it's annoying without telling then explicitly.
> 
> [sorry for taking this off-topic]



Do the same back to them, with even the simplest of subjects, they will soon realise how annoying it is.


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## Betsy Og

PM1234 said:


> A personal pet hate is FYI at the beginning of an email.
> 
> IMO if its not FYI why forward the email to my address at all!


 

It generally means that you're not expected to do anything with the email, its just ...errr.. _keeping you in the loop_ so you know what's happening when you have to work on it again


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## frash

"lets run with that"
"who wants to drive that bus?"
"push the boundaries"
"lets get our ducks in a row"


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## Guest114

frash said:


> "lets get our ducks in a row"


 
Ha ha ha. Hilarious !


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## PM1234

Betsy Og said:


> It generally means that you're not expected to do anything with the email, its just ...errr.. _keeping you in the loop_ so you know what's happening when you have to work on it again



Which implies that I'm supposed to read the email which is what I'm supposed to do with all emails I receive.   And after reading the email, I know if and when I've to follow it up. IMO it defeats the purpose of the subject title


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## bsloe

what about...' singing from the same hymn sheet'.....makes me cringe

whats worse is when everyone knows that a manager has a favourite saying and then the little suck ups start using it as their own knowing who owns the phrase


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## deew

"End of Play.".meaning at the close of buisness.does my head in.
"lets Park that for the moment.".wrecks my head.
and finally
"Help me understand!!!!!!!!!!!


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## boaber

Management Speak in song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx_hpZkWgCY


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## contemporary

we cant say brain storm any more as it might insult those with epilepsy so we now have thought showers....


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## pc7

contemporary said:


> we cant say brain storm any more as it might insult those with epilepsy so we now have thought showers....


 
 pc world gone mad!! love the you tube clip too!


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## ninsaga

boaber said:


> Management Speak in song...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx_hpZkWgCY



mighty stuff


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## Cabaiste

To be honest, I don't think that "going forward" and "touch base" are as bad as some of the other nonsensical ones mentioned here.

At least they mean something. Going forward is one I use from time to time and when appropriate. 

I had a boss before who was full of them. "Ducks in a row", "no re-inventing the wheel",  "singing from the same hymm sheet" and "we need to play this one by note" were his favourites.

My uses "all that good stuff" for everything he doesn't want to go into detail on.


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## LouisLaLoope

Can I add in an acronym I received this morning?  Out of office reply thing:

"I am OOO until..."

OOO?!!!!  I thought it was a typo.  Dear oh dear...


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## GeneralZod

Cabaiste said:


> To be honest, I don't think that "going forward" and "touch base" are as bad as some of the other nonsensical ones mentioned here.



Try using "in the future" instead of "going forward" and "talk briefly" instead of "touch base".


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## cole

Vanilla said:


> With all due respect. Meaning no respect at all frankly.


 
With the greatest of respect meaning you're talking complete bull.


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## Rico

Its a no brainer.

At the end of the day.

Absolutely.

Batten down the hatches.

Synergise (what does it mean, sounds painful) 

Emails with 'thanking you in anticipation of your assistance'


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## LDFerguson

boaber said:


> Management Speak in song...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx_hpZkWgCY


 
That's so cringeworthy, it's good in a kind of David Brent way.  

Years ago I had a manager who used to talk in what could could only be called his own dialect of management speak, in that very few people knew what the hell he was talking about.  Some of them eventually got translated. 

"The streets are well-aired" (The sales staff are spending too much time indoors.)  

"A bazzer, I see" (An employee got a short haircut.)

"The hickory shaft" (Golf)

"It's a bit like the fox, the goose and the beans" confused


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## GeneralZod

LDFerguson said:


> "It's a bit like the fox, the goose and the beans" confused



A situation requiring a clever or complex solution? With thanks to google.


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## LDFerguson

Thanks.  At the risk of sounding like some elderly relative, we didn't have the internet when I worked with this character and I never thought to look it up since.  You've solved an age-old mystery for me.


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## dewdrop

I suspect the manager who used the word *bazzer* was from Cork


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## ninsaga

Rico said:


> Its a no brainer.
> 
> At the end of the day.
> 
> Absolutely.
> 
> Batten down the hatches.
> 
> Synergise (what does it mean, sounds painful)
> 
> Emails with 'thanking you in anticipation of your assistance'



eeeehhhh Rico... just to fine tune that one, when someone says this it is usually as .........

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!


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## Gordanus

Betsy Og said:


> "Going forward" is actually useful enough.



In the future?


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## sparkeee

I finally got some face time with him and as his line manager I ran this thought grenade past him, that the bottom line mandated that it wasn't rocket science to think outside the box. It was a no brainer that the audit trail would impact on the ball park. Not the sharpest knife in the box he'd brigaded the sheep dip, reinventing the wheel as he did so. It was a wake up call that being a team player on the gound and using joined up thinking had to be an integral part of his core competencies. There was no such thing as a free lunch, after all.


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## Calico

sparkeee said:


> I finally got some face time with him and as his line manager I ran this thought grenade past him, that the bottom line mandated that it wasn't rocket science to think outside the box. It was a no brainer that the audit trail would impact on the ball park. Not the sharpest knife in the box he'd brigaded the sheep dip, reinventing the wheel as he did so. It was a wake up call that being a team player on the gound and using joined up thinking had to be an integral part of his core competencies. There was no such thing as a free lunch, after all.



All the low-hanging fruit was eaten then?


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## A.Partridge

*Had a boss who used to come up with the following...*

" oh yeah, straight from the fridge!" ...i.e cool

"What's cookin?" ....i.e.what's the latest news on the business front.

"Did the rubber hit the road?" ...i.e. did we do the business

"deliverables" ....still don't know what that truly means?

"You're talkin' hygeine factor here"...means it should be taken as given.

"Mmmmm...synergies" - not sure what he meant but sounded like Homer Simpson.

"Quality is a journey, not a destination"....aaaaaagh.


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## markowitzman

"our greatest asset is our people"
hard to believe first person to coin this phrase was Stalin!!!
Enough said!


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## ClubMan

markowitzman said:


> "our greatest asset is our people"
> hard to believe first person to coin this phrase was Stalin!!!
> Enough said!


I've heard that claimed several times but cannot corroborate it. Can you?


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## GeneralZod

According to this site he said



> I believe in one thing only, the power of the human will.



Not identical, but in a similar vein.


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## Mpsox

Hve to admit I use "touch base". My other current phrase at the minute is "single point of failure". 

Trouble is if you spend your day with people talking management speak, you get into using it yourself. It's like being overseas and learning a foreign language

My boss recently did ask me to bite the bullet on an issue, put the best foot forward and steer the client to where we need them to go. I hate multi-tasking!!!!


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## ophelia

'touch base', that brings back awful memories!!!!!!!!!! another I hate when argueing a point that you know the opposition is not paying heed off is  'you are speaking to the converted here'


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## Bubbly Scot

Vanilla said:


> With all due respect. Meaning no respect at all frankly.


 

My absolutely most hated!!


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## TarfHead

Ah, one of my pet peeves !

The one that currently makes my teeth itch is the use of 'space' to describe a situation or environment.

"_and that's a good space to be in_"

The thing that gets me about all such expressions is that I know that the people who now contaminate their vocabulary with such dross did not speak like that a few years ago. Which means, to me, that at some point they decided to adopt such expressions for reasons they have not disclosed, e.g. they want to sound like someone else, they haven't enough confidence in their own powers of expression.


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## declanja

"At this moment in time" drives me mad. Can't people just say "now". I also hate when TV presenters say "see you later"


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## becky

I found myself saying 'going forward' a few weeks ago but I did kick myself afterwards - 'from now on' has suited me just fine all these years.

Last week we were told we were waiting for someone to 'come down from the mountain with the tablets'.

While we were waiting for the 'tablets' another fella told us where our 'head space' should be while we were waiting for yer man to come down from the aforementioned mountain.


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## cole

A few years ago _copperfasten_ was all the rage along with _window of opportunity. _Awful.


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## liaconn

When my boss says 'thanks for making that suggestion. It's very interesting' I know he's really thinking 'what a load of sh*te.'


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## rmelly

liaconn said:


> When my boss says 'thanks for making that suggestion. It's very interesting' I know he's really thinking 'what a load of sh*te.'


 
he's just being polite - don't make rubbish suggestions and he won't need to respond accordingly.


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## AgathaC

S.L.F said:


> I had a boss who always said, "I'm not your father".
> 
> I always thought I bloody well hope not!


I came across this thread by chance and really enjoyed it. This particular post made me laugh out loud. I hate management speak, I think most of my personal 'favourites' are here. I attended a meeting recently where someone kept saying they 'had their arms around' the issue. Cringe.


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## RMCF

Haven't read any of this thread at all, so these may have already been mentioned - I hear them on a daily basis at work:

- going forward
- singin off the same hymn sheet


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## Welfarite

"Personally, I think...."

How does one think for anybody else?


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## VOR

The Onion always makes me smile and this one is a classic

[broken link removed]

Oh, and I worked with a guy who once said to IT "Our issue is that we have an average system with excellent people when we really need an excellent system which would then require only average people." All he had to say was "the system is crap."

Another term I can't stand is "elevator figures". It means if you were in an elevator with the boss and he/she asked how you are doing, you would have your "Key Performance Indicators" ready to dazzle him/her with your brilliance e.g. you have 10 seconds to impress so you rattle off your sales for the month, your conversion of call-outs to sales etc. etc.

"Low hanging fruit" - Since when does an apple have anything to do with work?

If I think of any more I'll "revert" to you


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## D8Lady

"Let's take it offline"
  Meaning:  you’ve brought up a subject that makes me look like an idiot, or there is someone else in the room I don’t want knowing about that issue or we want to talk about you behind your back.


But we'll prioritise it,  going forward...


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## Guest128

"Brown bag meeting", "Telecon", "Timebox". Touch base is the one that really rubs me up the wrong way though


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## Pique318

D8Lady said:


> "Let's take it offline"
> Meaning:  you’ve brought up a subject that makes me look like an idiot, or there is someone else in the room I don’t want knowing about that issue or we want to talk about you behind your back.


 LOL So true !!!



FLANDERS` said:


> "Brown bag meeting", " "Timebox".


Oh dear god, what the hell are they ?


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## becky

Pique318;930763
Oh dear god said:


> Plus 1.  Heard the term telecon before but it doesn't bother me as it's just the term shortened rather than giving it a different name altogether.


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## Guest128

"Brown bag meeting" is an informal meeting usually held through lunch, hence the name.

"Timeboxing" means giving a task a very strict and finite length of time in which to be completed.

"Telecon" is a shorting for telephone conversation. As to why you wouldnt just say "Phone call" like the rest of the sane world is beyond me!


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## Caveat

FLANDERS` said:


> "Telecon"


 
The irony is that I guess the purpose of using all these words/phrases is to sound funky and modern - but IMO _telecon_ is really a relic from the 80s.


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## VOR

"Bio-break" 
N. Neo-geek terminology for visiting the bathroom, especially when interrupting a meeting/gathering/workflow. 
V. performing bodily functions 

_"Where's Jones? I need him in here now!"
"Oh, he's on bio break, but I'll send him right in."_


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## Welfarite

FLANDERS` said:


> "Brown bag meeting" is an informal meeting usually held through lunch, hence the name.
> 
> "Timeboxing" means giving a task a very strict and finite length of time in which to be completed.
> 
> "Telecon" is a shorting for telephone conversation. As to why you wouldnt just say "Phone call" like the rest of the sane world is beyond me!


 
I don't know what circles you move it, Flanders, and I don't want to ever be there! Never heard of these terms before in my life. Are they Irish?


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## Jim Davis

"Effectively" and "Ultimately" and very over used.


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## michaelm

My policy is to not attend meetings.  On the rare occasion when I can't avoid a meeting, and for my own entertainment, I make it my raison d'et to work in as many anglicised French phrases as possible.


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## Pique318

michaelm said:


> I make it my *raison d'et* to work in as many anglicised French phrases as possible.


You may as well get the phrase right if you're gonna use it.

It's 'raison d'etre', mon ami.


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## Guest128

I'm in the IT sector! I have only ever heard "Brown bag meeting" in England, the others i've heard here though...


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## michaelm

Pique318 said:


> It's 'raison d'etre', mon ami.


  Malheureusement mon français est très mal.


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## Caveat

michaelm said:


> mal.


 
_Mauvais_ might be better.


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## michaelm

Caveat said:


> _Mauvais_ might be better.


No doubt; according to Google anyway.  It's just what I say in France before I ask for anything.


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## Caveat

michaelm said:


> No doubt; according to Google anyway. It's just what I say in France before I ask for anything.


 
Before I ask for anything in France I usually try to ensure that they are not on strike or something


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## Jim Davis

What annoys me is when people end they're sentence on a high note, everyone seems to be doing it at the moment.


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## VOR

I find that people who end sentences on a high note have either 
a) lived in Australia or,
b) lived with Australians or,
c) watch too much Kath and Kim

It annoys me immensely too.


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## Pique318

VOR said:


> It annoys me immensely too.


I'm sorry, were you asking a question ?


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## PMU

michaelm said:


> On the rare occasion when I can't avoid a meeting, and for my own entertainment, I make it my raison d'et to work in as many anglicised French phrases as possible.


 Yes.  But is this consistent with your core values?


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## Guest128

Its not necessarily management speak but when you get an email with "Just a gentle reminder....."

Grrr, why bother saying that when you've just sent the mail anyway, why not just remind me as normal!?


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## Booter

"Bang for your buck" was all the rage a few years ago, but the latest one driving me round the twist is when people at a meeting say "I can speak to that" when a particular agenda item comes up. 

To that, not about that, shheesh!!


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## Guest116

Jim Davis said:


> What annoys me is when people end they're sentence on a high note, everyone seems to be doing it at the moment.


 
Yeah I noticed that, every statement now sounds like a question! Very annoying!


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## Latrade

"Optics" has entered our vocab here. As in "you must consider the optics", which just means "look everyone thinks we're a bunch of ******, and this is only likely to make it worse. So best not to say that officially"

"Synergies" enters more so now. It's a handy euphemism for, "we've made a few redundant and you've had a pay cut, but we'll name this new doing more for less environment so it sounds like a nice shampoo and you won't notice."

Also known to cause some annoyance: 

"do not hesitate to contact me" and any other attempt to appear literate in emails.

"the situation is" (can never hear that without trying to say situation in a Northie accent out loud...similar automatic response to the South African accent which has me quoting Lethal Weapon 2...Diplomatic Imminuity!!!)

"At the end of the day" Apart from the sun setting, what exactly is it that happens at the end of the day? What is this magical event I'm supposed to know about?


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## liaconn

'My door is always open'.

Usually said by Managers who look up and frown distractedly when anyone taps hesitantly on their 'open' door.


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## Seagull

Latrade said:


> similar automatic response to the South African accent which has me quoting Lethal Weapon 2...Diplomatic Imminuity!!!)


That's not a South African accent in the movie, it's a somewhat mangled Aussie accent.


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## joe sod

My favourite but one you will never hear comes from father ted
"That would be an ecumenical matter"
although it referred to the church it showed that jargon is universal in all organisations , the most jargon filled organisation at the moment is the government and civil service, back in 2000 it was the high tech companies, it is funny that jargon seems to be out of fashion in high tech now , the more easy money there is the more it attracts jargon and obfuscation


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## AgathaC

D8Lady said:


> "Let's take it offline"
> Meaning: you’ve brought up a subject that makes me look like an idiot, or there is someone else in the room I don’t want knowing about that issue or we want to talk about you behind your back.


 Excellent!


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## mathepac

Jim Davis said:


> What annoys me is when people end they're sentence on a high note ...





aristotle25 said:


> Yeah I noticed that, every statement now sounds like a question! Very annoying!


Referred to as the antipodean interrogative, it is now creeping into written language, as evidenced by the increase in misplaced and unnecessary question and exclamation marks and incomplete sentences.


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## Stapeler

My response to management speak, "Okay, I'll roll it out and you drive it up your end"


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## Pique318

Stapeler said:


> My response to management speak, "Okay, I'll roll it out and you drive it up your end"



Oo-er missus ! Sounds like something from 'Are You Being Served?'


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## galleyslave

given that all the good ones are already taken... 
"architecting" something
it's effin' designing and building ... architect is not an action word!


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## TarfHead

Jim Davis said:


> What annoys me is when people end they're sentence ..


 
I think that you're not the right person to be throwing these stones  !



D8Lady said:


> "Let's take it offline"
> Meaning: you’ve brought up a subject that makes me look like an idiot, or there is someone else in the room I don’t want knowing about that issue or we want to talk about you behind your back.


 
I disagree. I find that phrase being used when 2 people engage in a discussion of a point in a level of detail that's not appropriate to the meeting.


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## AgathaC

'Silver bullet'......aaargh.


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## TarfHead

New boss here made reference to '_injecting some velocity_' to an administrative process.

I assume he didn't study Physics in school  ?


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## zztop

Gordon strachan was once asked for a quick word after match interview.
He paused for a second and said
Velocity....thats a quick word and walked off


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## annR

But have you innovated your business?


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## callybags

annR said:


> But have you innovated your business?


 
I ran that one up the flagpole the other day, but no-one saluted.


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## fizzelina

Gosh I just got a great laugh reading all this thread! I should get back to work now!


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## PaddyW

I hate when management says did "we" do this, or did "we" do that. Thing is, they're not doing anything! Also I hate when someone asks me to do something and then throws in "Yeah?" at the end, as if questioning my ability to comprehend what they've just said. That really gets me gritting my teeth!


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## annR

PaddyW said:


> Also I hate when someone asks me to do something and then throws in "Yeah?" at the end, as if questioning my ability to comprehend what they've just said. That really gets me gritting my teeth!



Oh god that makes me grit my teeth.  Management also use ok? at the end of every sentence when they're explaining something, I suppose to sound nice and reassuring but actually sounding as if we're school children.


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## Firefly

What gets on my goat is when wannabe managers drop in the name of the most senior manager into as many sentences as they can. e.g. head of IT is called Kevin...the wannabe would start spouting something like "and Kevin is really behind this initiative" or "Kevin is very happy with this direction".


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## Betsy Og

Firefly said:


> What gets on my goat is when wannabe managers drop in the name of the most senior manager into as many sentences as they can. e.g. head of IT is called Kevin...the wannabe would start spouting something like "and Kevin is really behind this initiative" or "Kevin is very happy with this direction".


 

You should say "Grand so, I'd better speak to the organ grinder not the monkey"


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## Purple

PaddyW said:


> Also I hate when someone asks me to do something and then throws in "Yeah?" at the end, as if questioning my ability to comprehend what they've just said. That really gets me gritting my teeth!



That just means they are from Cork. Do they also say "Like" (or "luike") a lot?


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## Firefly

Purple said:


> That just means they are from Cork.


 
With all these digs at Cork people, anyone would think you're a closet "Langer"


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## ophelia

Don't know if anyone has already mentioned it, because I don't have time to read through all the posts; but one phrase that annoys me is when salespeople say 'it comes in at a great price point', can't they just say its a reasonable price


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## AgathaC

'Let's give a big shout out to'... aaagh, that phrase is getting very popular, especially on radio programmes.


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## Yorrick

Before we used go to the barber for a haircut. Now you can get it anywhere. If the dole is cut the social welfare beneficiaries are getting a haircut.
NAMA takes your faulty loans and they give you a haircut. Where will it stop ????????
Will there be any work left for barbers at all ??


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## Caveat

AgathaC said:


> 'Let's give a big shout out to'... aaagh, that phrase is getting very popular, especially on radio programmes.



Or "give it up for..." or worse, "a big up to..."


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## roker

No excuses just do it


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## PaddyW

Purple said:


> That just means they are from Cork. Do they also say "Like" (or "luike") a lot?



Haha not from Cork at all, luike.


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## markowitzman

shinners were very fond of "advancing the situation" whatever that meant.


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## Lak

Having skimmed through this thread I didnt see my pet hate and surely one of the most prolific. If indeed it was not included I can only conclude those contributing to this thread did not for effort, give *"110 per cent"*


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## shammy feen

I work for a J&J company at the moment and they are murder for bull**** bingo type phrases, micro-management and beurocracy...cant wait to get out of there...


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## Leper

The phrases that raise my hackles are:-

1. (and probably the number 1 here also) is "Going Forward." This is usually uttered by somebody with such backward thinking that would make even David Brent look good.

2. "From get-go" usually said by some person who would have trouble getting to the starting blocks, let alone sprinting from them.

3. "Tick Tack" with the others on this.  I presume it means talk.

4. "From A to Z" (pronounced from ay 2 zee) - American accent a bonus.

5. Like watching paint dry - Well, literally, I must do this.


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## Lex Foutish

One that really got under my skin was the ESB recently telling us that customers they had cut supply to were *de-energised!*


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