Digital Parsimony

We know that the English language is dying, it has been dying for the better part of a century. George Orwell (Animal Farm) wrote about it in the late 40s. Here’s what Oxford researchers think are the most annoying phrases today:

1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science

I agree with mostly everything on that list, but if I had to make a personal top 10 of useless jargon, it would be the following:

1. leverage
2. whiteboard
3. aks instead of ask
4. dropped the ball
5. expresso instead of espresso
6. circle back and touch base
7. download when not actually downloading anything
8. drill down
9. outside the box
10. please advise

Here are a few that don’t deserve to be in the top 10 but get an honorable mention since they’re just starting to piss me off:

1. raise the bar
2. level the playing field
3. buy-in

[Source: Oxford Researchers List Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases]