Most Annoying Phrases People Use In The Workplace

Ever caught yourself “giving it 100 percent” or “thinking outside of the box?” If so, you might be making your co-workers cringe. New research suggests that seven in 10 American workers are guilty of using the most cringe-worthy phrases at the office – with “give it 110 percent” the leading offender. The study, conducted by OnePoll in conjunction with a company called Jive Communications, looked at the communication behaviors of 2,000 American workers and compiled a list of the 40 most cringeworthy office phrases:

1. Give 110 percent
2. Think outside the box
3. Hammer it out
4. Heavy lifting
5. Throw them under the bus
6. Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched
7. Pushing the envelope
8. Let the cat out of the bag
9. Let’s circle back
10. Win-win situation
11. Blue-sky thinking
12. Boil the ocean
13. Synergy
14. Low-hanging fruit
15. Take it to the next level
16. Barking up the wrong tree
17. Going forward
18. Let’s ballpark this
19. Run this up the flagpole
20. Back to square one
21. There’s no I in team
22. Back to the drawing board
23. Paradigm shift
24. Elephant in the room
25. Raise the bar
26. Drill down
27. Best thing since sliced bread
28. Deep Dive
29. Skin in the game
30. Reach out
31. Touch base
32. Play hardball
33. Don’t reinvent the wheel
34. Kept in the loop
35. The bottom line
36. Down the road
37. I’ll loop you in
38. Hit the nail on the head
39. ASAP
40. Team player