Workplace buzzwords. You either love them or you hate them, but sometimes you just can’t wrap your head around them. Some people love to use workplace jargon. Maybe it makes them feel like they’re “in the know,” maybe it makes them just feel cool, but new research shows that workplace language can be more annoying than helpful.
LinkedIn and Duolingo teamed up to find out what the most confusing and most overused workplace jargon is around the world. They surveyed more than 8-thousand working professionals in eight different countries – India, Vietnam, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. The research found that 69% say their coworkers use too much jargon at work.
But that’s not all. It turns out, sometimes people have a hard time leaving the buzzwords at the office! Sixty-four percent of Gen Z and millennials say they find themselves using workplace jargon at home. Although, if they could, close to half of respondents would get rid of workplace buzzwords altogether. Maybe because 60% of workers say they have to figure out what jargon means all on their own, which is stressful and makes them less productive. How do they figure it out? Just over half (54%) admit they’ve secretly looked up a word in a meeting to keep up with discussion and 83% have used a word they didn’t understand in a professional setting.
Let’s take a look at the most confusing and the most annoying workplace buzzwords
#5
MOST COMMON:
Circle Back – to revisit a subject.
Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images
MOST CONFUSING:
Run It Up the Flagpole – Mention the idea or proposal to the “higher-ups” and let them decide it’s fate.
#4
MOST COMMON:
Drinking the Kool-Aid – being gullible or falling for something
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Kraft Heinz
MOST CONFUSING:
Move the Needle – have enough of an impact that people notice
#3
MOST COMMON:
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen – there are too many people adding their opinion to the situation creating more of a mess than a solution.
Celebrity chefs (L-R) Heston Blumenthal, Brian Turner, Andrew Fairlie, David Nicholls, Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr, Michel Roux, Garry Rhodes, Richard Vines and Alain Roux (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
MOST CONFUSING:
Ducks in a Row – Get yourself organized and know what you’re talking about before you start talking.
#2
MOST COMMON:
Out of Pocket – This term is used in a few different ways.
1 – You would pay for something using your own money instead of the company’s.
2 – If someone is unavailable, they’re out of pocket
3 – Wild or Unconventional
This dog clearly has no problem herding cats. Photo by: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
MOST CONFUSING:
Herding Cats – something extremely difficult to do
#1
MOST COMMON:
Ducks in a Row – Get yourself organized and know what you’re talking about before you start talking.
Andrew Redington/Getty Images
MOST CONFUSING:
Boiling the Ocean – Just as it would be to boil the ocean, this term refers to taking on a task or making a task extremely difficult if not impossible to accomplish
