Everyone’s got their verbal pet peeves, but odds are good you and your co-workers have more in common than you think when it comes to phrases that should never be spoken in the office.
After performing extensive research, scholars at Oxford University and author Jeremy Butterfield have devised a list of the ten most irritating phrases uttered by humans.
This top ten list appears in Butterfield’s latest book, “Damp Squid,” which was comprised from books, papers, magazines, journals, broadcast media and other sources:
- At the end of the day
- Fairly unique
- I personally
- At this moment in time
- With all due respect
- Absolutely
- It’s a nightmare
- Shouldn’t of
- 24/7
- It’s not rocket science
In addition to these expressions, Butterfield also came up with a runners-up list of phrases. Although it’s populated by office lingo like “think-tank” and “synergy,” the words “literally” and “ironically” nabbed honorable mention for being used incorrectly, or out of context the most often.
Does one particular word or phrase automatically send you or your co-workers off the deep end? Share your own pet peeves with others below.
