46 Words and Phrases to Stop Using, Courtesy of LinkedIn

Want to improve your writing by leaps and bounds and get much better at communicating who you are and what you do? Two of LinkedIn’s most popular Pulse articles this year include a very comprehensive list of words and terms that are so overused, they have become meaningless – and annoying.

I have to say that these two writers are my heroes – I really could not agree with them more. Ready to find out what words and phrases they (and I) cannot stand?

Stop Using These 16 Terms to Describe Yourself

Do you write things about yourself you would never have the nerve to actually say?

Although Jeff Haden is not technically talking about copywriting, this blog posts lists the top words that might look good on paper when describing you or your company but sound ridiculous and inauthentic saying out loud in real life. They include:

1. Innovative

2. World-class

3. Authority

4. Results-oriented

5. Global-provider

6. Motivated

7. Creative

8. Dynamic

9. Guru

10. Curator

11. Passionate

12. Unique

13. Incredibly

14. Serial entrepreneur

15. Strategist

16. Collaborative

Stop Using These 30 Phrases at Work

Are your meetings buzzing with so much management lingo that you find it hard to get to the real meaning of what is being said? The problem I have with these phrases is that they sound so pretentious and often are counterproductive because they irritate people so much and deflect from the real meaning.

In a similar article, Bernard Marr put together a list of the “most irritating jargon phrases” that he would like very much to ban. They are:

1. Going forward

2. Drill-down

3. End of play

4. Touch base

5. It’s on my radar

6. No-brainer

7. Best of breed

8. Low-hanging fruit

9. Reach out

10. Dive deeper

11. Think outside the box

12. Positive momentum

13. On my plate

14. At the end of the day

15. Run the numbers

16. Touch points

17. Keep your eye on the ball

18. Back to the drawing board

19. Get the ball rolling

20. Bang for your buck

21. Close the deal

22. When the rubber hits the road

23. Shift paradigm

24. Move the needle

25. Game-changing

26. Move the goal post

27. Value added

28. Win-win

29. Across the piece

30. All hands on deck

Strip these words out of your work vocabulary, and you are automatically a better writer.

What would you add to the list? Share in the comments section!

Author information

Monika Jansen