Study Pushes Envelope, Thinks Outside Box And Drills It Down To A More Granular Level

I just came across a Reuters story about a study published by Opinium, a research company in the U.K. It reveals what workers today consider the most annoying things they have to deal with on the job.

Along with such expected grievances as "people not cleaning up after themselves in the kitchen" and "talking too loudly on the phone" is my own personal neck hair-raiser: obnoxious business jargon, which the study kindly "drills down to a more granular level." Here are the results, ranked from the most grating, to the just plain annoying:

1. Thinking outside the box (21 percent)

2. Let's touch base (20)

3. Blue sky thinking (19)

4. Blamestorming (16) (sitting down and working out whose fault something is)

5. Drill down to a more granular level (15) (Look into something in more detail)

6. Let's not throw pies in the dark (15) (we need a plan rather than a haphazard approach)

7. I've got that on my radar (13)

8. Push the envelope (12)

9. Bring your A-game (11) (Be ready to do something to best of ability)

10. Get all your ducks in a row (11)

Having spent most of my career in the creative departments of advertising agencies, I had mostly been sheltered from hearing such hooey. But on occasion, I do get to hear such beauties as, "how do we make it an actionable item?" and other "game-changing" phrases which hopefully won't be "gaining traction" around the Extrovertic office.

I'd love to hear your least favorite office jargon. We'll "run it up the flagpole and see who salutes."

-Mark