English Office Jargon

Office Angels a UK recruitment firm have released a list of 2007 office sayings. So the next time you plan to ‘think outside the box’, think again. Using the phrase in front of colleagues instantly marks you out as past your office sell-by date.

Here are the top five ‘must-use buzzwords’ designed to impress in 2007, and revealed the five must-avoid clichés considered old-hat by status conscious colleagues.

THE GOOD – 2007’s essential office buzzwords

1. Thought Grenade – hopefully the result of productive Thought Showers, Thought Grenades are ‘explosive’ good ideas
2. Let’s Sunset That – what happens to bad ideas i.e. they never see the light of day again
3. Little ‘r’ me – a new term that requests a private answer to an e-mail – the little ‘r’ standing for reply
4. Information Touchpoint – pioneering office workers will no longer attend meetings in 2007, instead Information Touchpoints will be on the daily agenda

THE BAD – The Top Five Office Jargon Faux-Pas

1. Blue Sky Thinking – he biggest verbal faux-pas when it comes to lame office lingo
2. Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet – say this and you’ll be out of tune,
3. Thinking outside the box – dare to utter this and you’ll confirm your thinking is in need of an update
4. Let’s take it offline – inspired by the internet and meaning let’s talk about this somewhere else, taking your discussions ‘offline’ is definitely off limits
5. Park that thought – said when someone wants to discuss a good idea at a later stage, you’ll end up in the office slow-lane if you park too many thoughts,

AND THE UGLY – five workplace phrases to avoid at all costs

1. Getting down with the kids – if your boss says this he’s trying too hard and the ‘kids’ (i.e. junior office workers) won’t appreciate his efforts to ‘get down’
2. Open up your kimono – a new phrase that means ‘put your cards on the table’ but instead conjures up all sorts of potentially unsavoury images
3. Let’s raise the anchor and let this one drift –meaning to forget about a bad idea – needs to be scuppered before it leaves the dock
4. There’s no I in team – the cliché that out-clichés all others
5. Am I bovvered?

I think there all a bit pretentious BTW….