Ten phrases you shouldn’t use at meetings

What everyday business phrases irritate you most? Here are ten that we’ve probably all heard too often. 

Oxford University Press recently compiled a list of the top ten irritating phrases often found in emails and in business writing. While there are plenty of other phrases you need to avoid using, these represent a good start.

  • At the end of the day
  • Fairly unique
  • I personally
  • At this moment in time
  • With all due respect
  • Absolutely
  • It’s a nightmare
  • Shouldn’t of
  • 24/7
  • Reach out

In meetings, one-time ‘fashionable’ phrases such as ‘thinking outside the box’, ‘low-hanging fruit’ and ‘it’s on my radar’ are now almost guaranteed to produce a shudder. More recently, phrases like ‘let’s throw a thought grenade at that problem’ or ‘can we build a carpark at the bottom of the page for that idea’ have been rearing their heads. What’s the one phrase that annoys you the most?

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