Want to be understood and respected this year? Avoid the most annoying business buzzwords.
On the other hand, if you want to drive co-workers crazy and sound like an idiot, keep using the most annoying business buzzwords.
Jargon and buzzwords — although they might seem cool at first — can cause confusion, minimize something major or maximize something that’s not.
Mostly, though, buzzwords and jargon end up meaning nothing. Once they’ve run their course — which is about a year — they’re a waste of words, breath and space in a sentence.
Who Uses Annoying Business Buzzwords and Why
Yet, we’re inundated with annoying business buzzwords day-in, day-out. More than 80% of workers admit to using them. And the average person uses them six times a day, according to research from Preply.
Gen Z is the biggest abuser of buzzwords, relying on them about eight times a day. Baby Boomers use them least.
And while the use of buzzwords seems innocuous, it’s not: Buzzword use is a vicious cycle. People in the study admitted they often continue to use words they don’t fully understand or find annoying because everyone on their team uses them.
Most Annoying Buzzwords
So, let’s take a look at the 10 buzzwords that made the annoying list and what they supposedly mean (because buzzwords often mean different things to different people).
- Ping you. Send a quick, short message over a communication app.
- Get your ducks in a row. Organize and schedule so you’re ready for what’s next.
- Put a pin in it. Delay something to come back to it later.
- Piggybacking. When someone wants to add on to another’s ideas.
- At the end of the day. When it’s all over.
- Circle back. Respond, check in again or follow up.
- Above and beyond. Doing more than what’s expected or needed.
- Deep dive. A thorough, in-depth examination of a topic.
- Low-hanging fruit. Easily attainable goals or objectives.
- Bring to the table. The skills, knowledge or purpose someone can contribute.
Be Clear: Skip Buzzwords
Now, let’s dump the annoying business buzzwords and jargon in the coming year. It’ll help you sound clearer, more professional and — well — less annoying.
Here are six ways to communicate without buzzwords and with clarity:
- Be aware. We’ve covered the 10 most annoying buzzwords, but they aren’t the only things to avoid. The Preply study found these are the most overused in the workplace, and should be equally avoided: Touch base. Bottom line. Win-win. It is what it is. Sus. Bet. Hit the ground running. Keep me in the loop.
- Detox. Pick one or a few business buzzwords to avoid starting now. Best bet: try the most annoying — “ping.” Don’t say it until it’s out of your vocabulary. Instead, tell others to call, message or talk to you. After that, pick another to slowly ditch.
- Proofread. Same goes for what you write. You can start eliminating several words by proofreading your written word — email, text and chats — to eliminate all of the business buzzwords on the above lists. If people don’t read them, they’ll be less likely to use them, too.
- Identify acronyms. Acronyms are jargon, and every workplace has its own set of them (usually on top of industry jargon). They aren’t horrible to use, but if they aren’t identified on the first mention, you risk talking or writing about something at least one person isn’t familiar with. And then they won’t understand anything that follows. Use the full words on the first mention and its acronym, and let people know you’ll use the acronym going forward. For instance, “The return on investment — ROI for short — was calculated and we’ll break it down here. I’ll refer to it as ROI from now on.”
- Be direct. Say exactly what you mean. It’s quicker and obvious. For instance, instead of saying, “We need to hit the ground running,” say, “Let’s go.”
- Get feedback. Ask people if they understand everything you said or wrote. People will eventually speak up and let you know where you lost them … and it might be in your use of annoying and overused business buzzwords.
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