Outdated or overused jargon words and phrases

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At CNBC make it on December 26, 2021 there is an article by Kathy and Ross Petras titled Want to sound more intelligent? Avoid these 15 words and phrases that are ‘embarrassingly outdated,’ say grammar experts. Those 15 are:

 

Bandwith

End-user

Granular

Hack

‘I did a thing’

‘It is what it is’

Influencer

Jab

The new normal

Pivot

‘Take it offline’

Thought leader

‘We remain cautious’

WFH (work from home)

Zooming

 

Lucy Kellaway also discussed granular and said it should be replaced by detailed. Back on December 16, 2015 I blogged about her Guffipedia in a post titled Jargon and guff. On January 4, 2017 I blogged about Tired sports jargon – please don’t say pivot when another word would be better.

 

Another article at Acrolinx on May 8, 2021 by Cynthia Spiers is titled 16 Overused words and phrases and what to say instead. They are:

 

At the end of the day

Bandwidth

Bang for your buck

Content is king

Get granular

Get the ball rolling

Get your ducks in a row

Giving 110%

Hit the ground running

Keep your eye on the ball

Leverage

A no-brainer

On the same page

Out of left field

Synergize

Think outside the box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cynthia’s list has two ancient baseball phrases, ‘Keep your eye on the ball’ and ‘Out of left field.’ (Bandwidth and granular are on both lists). There also is a useful article at the Buckley School on September 9, 2021 titled How to rescue presentations drowning in jargon.

 

The 1895 baseball poster came from the Library of Congress.