10 Most Over-Used Office Buzz Words

I must begin by saying that I'm totally guilty of saying all of these phrases, but that doesn't mean I'm not ashamed of myself for doing so. Buzz words are to the office as words like "sweet", "owned" and "sick" are to high schoolers. We can't avoid them, but I can surely make fun of them. Below are 10 of the most over-used buzz words in the workplace today.

10. Sync-up

So now we're human Blackberrys. Do we run a USB cable between the two of us attaching it at the ear? We can't get together to hash out ideas, or schedule a meeting to decide where we stand on a project, we must "sync-up". Forgive me if I don't feel like syncing. Syncing implies drowning, and I'd rather not.

9. To your point

Huh? Doesn't this just mean you're agreeing with me or perhaps appeasing me to get to your point? I find these words confusing and misleading. However, I've got to give the purveyor of these words credit for coming up with a phrase that invalidates someone else's point politely.

8. Offline

This is most commonly used as "let's discuss this offline", or "let's take this offline". Give me a break. Whatever happened to "let's speak privately"? It's so difficult for me to determine whether this is in reference to the internet being down or whether our bodies have melted down to little bits of data streaming over the World Wide Web. When I'm in a discussion with other willing participants, we're not "online" so how can a private conversation be taken "offline"? Ugh, my head is spinning.

7. Face time

I don't know about you, but this one makes me self conscious. Face time simply means a physical meeting between two or more people. So why can't we just say, "let's meet"? As soon as face time comes out of someone's mouth, I feel like setting my face on fire! Are they going to be judging my face? Why do they need time with my face? Can't we just meet like two normal human beings? Stop starring at the giant zit on my face!

6. Touch base

Working isn't baseball, so where's the base? Is my phone the base? My stapler? I touch those all the time, but with the exception of my phone, I don't usually get a response. This one is very similar to "reaching out" (see below). Both are completely unnecessary to convey your meaning. If you would like me to check in with you periodically, no problem, but which base shall I touch on the way?

5. Reach out to

Another fancy phrase for communicating with someone. I would love to explore this phrase literally and really reach out to someone. I can only imagine my co-worker's face as I forcefully grab her arm bringing her toward me to ask how her project is going. I bet she'd think twice about asking me to reach out again.

4. Paradigm shift

I had to actually look this one up. Its literal definition is used to describe a change in basic assumptions. Hmmm, soooo it means that we've changed our mind. Seems to me that this is used to explain that somebody screwed something up, and now we must "shift" to another opinion in order to avoid admitting we were wrong. Let's keep this one as "I hate to be wrong" and this seems like a phrase to use instead of "sorry."

3. Push the envelope

Here's one that I really can't put to any practical use. I know that pushing the envelope means to stretch the boundaries which are in place, but physically pushing an envelope won't help. Where are you pushing it to? Why are you pushing it? Did it push you first? Careful, you might push it right off the table. Ack! What does this mean?

2. Shoot an email

As much as I would love to stuff an email into a cannon, light a fuse, and shoot it into the phrase offender's cube, I would likely be fired or worse. Shooting an email simply means sending one, so why not just say that? It's a much safer alternative.

1. Outside the box

Ugh! I totally blame Taco Bell for making this a buzz phrase with their "think outside the bun" campaign, but that's where it should have stayed. It makes me feel like unless we're told to think outside the box, we might not otherwise use our creative capacity to the fullest. "I was only going to entertain conventional methods of solving this problem, but now that you've told me to think outside the box..." It's unnecessary to tell me to think either inside or outside the box. If I'm taking the time to think about something, I'm addressing all angles, thank you very much.