The Corporate Jargon that Irks Americans the Most

Run it up the flagpole! All hands on deck! Quick win!

Corporate jargon is a thing—and everyone seems to use it regardless if they’re fans of it or not. But what does each phrase really mean? Why say “bandwidth” when you can say time? Why say “take it offline” when you could phrase it “let’s discuss this elsewhere”?

We surveyed 1,000 adults on their use of office idioms. Some jargon, like “big picture,” are used by just about everyone. Others, like “boil an ocean” and “I’ll ping you” get under peoples’ skin. Read on to see which office jargon rolls off the tongue the most, and which sayings people think should stop being a thing altogether.

Interesting Findings

• The term “analysis paralysis” is the most unloved office term on our list. The idiom refers to overthinking so much you become debilitated and cannot move forward. “Analysis paralysis” can happen to anyone, but luckily there are ways to mitigate it.
• “I’ll ping you” almost perfectly epitomizes annoying office jargon, so it’s no surprise that 24% of women aren’t a fan of the word. In fact, women favor every other phrase over that one.
• 40% of people really get the “big picture.” Not far behind that, 37.5% of workers have a thing for saying “all hands on deck.” The latter refers to a call for more crew members to come to the deck of a ship during a time when they needed—literally—more hands.
• 40% of both men and women have never heard of the phrase “stack hands.” The term was coined after sport teams who would huddle in a circle, chant, and throw their hands up in the air. The phrase is meant to unify people and remind them that they’re on the same team.
• Another lesser-known term? “KPIs,” which stands for key performance indicators. At its core, it’s a way to measure success—but it’s not just for the office. Supposedly, the earliest record of KPI use is in China. 3rd century emperors began rating how well the royal family was performing their duties.
• “Boil an ocean” doesn’t get a lot of love. 73.27% of women and 70.67% of men refrain from using the term. The saying refers to the impossibility of trying to boil the amount of water that makes up an ocean.

The takeaways

• Men and women share the same top 5 most loved jargon, as well as 4 out of 5 of the most least loved jargon. Overall, men have more passionate opinions toward jargon than women. On average, 15.13% of men dog on office jargon, compared to only 11.21% of women.
• Just because Americans dislike a phrase doesn’t mean they don’t use it. 25.7% of respondents reported that they weren’t head over heels for “analysis paralysis,” yet of those 25.7%, 10.53% still use it often and 17.41% use it sometimes. In other words, around 25% of the people who claimed they weren’t a fan of it still use it.

Methodology

We surveyed 1,000 men and women aged 18+ via Pollfish on their opinions and usage of common office jargon. From there, we broke down the findings by gender and age, as well as usage and preference.

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Corporate jargon defined