‘Touch base’ and ‘blue sky thinking’: The workplace jargon most likely to annoy your colleagues

Are we even making sense? (Picture: Getty Images)

The corporate world loves nothing more than a buzzword.

And whether you like it or not, we bet you’re guilty of it too.

Sometimes, ‘drilling down’ into an idea just rolls off the tongue, and telling a client how great it is to ‘connect’ feels like second nature.

Convenient? Yes. Annoying? Also, yes.

And it turns out that the latest generations of professionals entering the workplace don’t want to hear it. New research from LinkedIn and Duolingo found that 69% say their colleagues use too much jargon at work.

And, it’s seeping into our every day lives too. Two thirds (64%) of gen z and millennials admit they find themselves using workplace jargon at home. So if you’re suggesting you meet a friend at EOD, you might want to rethink.

The research also ranked the most irritating phrases – coming in strong at number one was ‘blue sky thinking’, which essentially just means coming up with ideas without any constraints.

‘Low hanging fruit’ (the most easily achieved tasks), ‘ducks in a row’ (to get organised) and ‘COP/EOD’ (close of play/end of day) also made it into the top 10.

While the way we speak at work may seem trivial, the research reveals that it has a real impact on how workers feel in the workplace. Over half of younger employees (54%) admit changing the way they speak to fit in, compared to less than a third of older workers who have done the same (32%). 

On top of this, 54% have secretly looked up a word in a meeting to keep up with discussion – twice as many as baby boomers. And, in an attempt to keep up appearances, four in five (83%) have used a word they didn’t understand in a professional situation.

Dr. Hope Wilson, Learning and Curriculum Manager at Duolingo said: ‘There’s no need to feel ashamed if you use jargon in the workplace, but it’s helpful to be aware that these words can cause others to feel confused or left out. When possible, consider other terms that convey the same meaning that have a higher likelihood of being understood by all.’

Want to brush up on your buzzwords? LinkedIn is also making the following courses free to all users from today for one month, which could avoid communication mishaps from now on:

Communication and Cultural Differences

Communication Foundations

Why authentic communication matters

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Let’s circle back and move the needle on these irritating phrases.