Jargon. Trendy terms thrown around in everyday conversation. Clichés and catch phrases. You know the ones we’re talking about. You’ve probably heard them during a meeting or in the hallways. You may have even used one or two yourself.
And almost everyone has. Initially, office jargon offered a creative way to express an idea. These words were new and exciting. And then they became, well, buzzwords. Overused and abused until they lost their originality and, sometimes, their meaning.
This got us thinking. We at WOT are all about eliminating jargon from HR communications. But we aren’t above the fray, occasionally using a buzzword or two around the office.
So we decided to pull together some of the most overused buzzwords today.
| Instead of this… | Use this… |
|---|---|
| best practice | benchmark standard |
| body of work | product line |
| burning platform | crisis trouble |
| hard stop | end time stop |
| let’s talk this | discuss talk |
| lots of moving parts | complicated |
| low hanging fruit | easy little effort |
| move the needle | get a reaction reaction |
| out-of-pocket | out of the office unavailable |
| over the wall | send to client |
| peel the onion | understand |
| reach out | contact |
| swim lane | responsibility |
| take offline | postpone |
| vertical | area of expertise |
