plain english At the end of the day... we're fed up with clichés. 23 March 2004 Plain English supporters around the world have voted "At the end of the day" as the most irritating phrase in the language. Second place in the vote was shared by "At this moment in time" and the constant use of "like" as if it were a form of punctuation. "With all due respect" came fourth. The Campaign surveyed its 5000 supporters in more than 70 countries as part of the build-up to its 25th anniversary. The independent pressure group was launched on 26 July 1979. Spokesman John Lister said over-used phrases were a barrier to communication. "When readers or listeners come across these tired expressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message - assuming there is one! Using these terms in daily business is about professional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ringtone on your phone. "George Orwell's advice from 1946 is still worth following: 'Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.'" The following terms also received multiple nominations: 24/7 absolutely address the issue around (in place of "about") awesome ballpark figure basically basis ("on a weekly basis" in place of "weekly" and so on) bear with me between a rock and a hard place blue sky (thinking) boggles the mind bottom line crack troops diamond geezer epicentre (used incorrectly) glass half full (or half empty) going forward I hear what you're saying.. in terms of... it's not rocket science literally move the goal-posts ongoing prioritise pushing the envelope singing from the same hymn sheet the fact of the matter is thinking outside the box to be honest/to be honest with you/to be perfectly honest touch base up to (in place of "about") value-added (in general use)
I hear what you're saying; the fact of the matter is that the poll was done by around 70 different countries. Thats the bottom line.
"We need someone to guard the Shaq's and the Yao's of the league" There's only one Shaq and one Yao. I hate it when people say that.
I've never heard the above...What context does someone use crack troops..."In the hood, them crack troops be illin'?"... What happened to "Sup", or "Yeah Boy"...I'm living in the past...
Crack troops? Sounds like a Chapelle routine. "Join the Army, beeyotch.....and be part of a crack brigade...."
If I hear another recruiter call me and say they're "touching base" with me, I swear I'll hang up and burn my phone...
I hate: "shoot off an e-mail" - ugh. and "let's discuss offline" - you're not a freaking computer. you don't have the intellect to comprehend a string of 1's and 0's... sorry.
I want to strangle everyone who says "touch base" to me!!! I HATE THAT ONE!!! I know a guy who uses these cliche phrases for about 80% of his vocabulary. He's a nice guy, but it's like talking to a PHB.
I mostly like them. What I hate is when people say "ASAP" instead of "A.S.A.P." What TV network is touting "LOL Thursdays" (or whatever)? I find that to be pretty stupid.
oh crap. I just used the term "I'll shoot you off an e-mail right now" during a call with a client. I really need to get out of the consulting industry asap!
