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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Annoying buzzwords/phrases.

153 replies

WheresThatCatGoneNow · 01/08/2026 11:15

I keep hearing people say that they "reached out" to a another person or a company/ business/organisation etc.

Why don't they just say that they contacted them? Which is what they actually mean!

It really sets my teeth on edge.

Any thoughts?

OP posts:
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seawitchandgarden2 · Today 08:20

Punching above our weight
Low hanging fruits
Circling back
We need to unpack this
Making memories
Catching feelings
Touch base
I I turned around and said
Lived experience
We are pregnant
Curated (used in random contexts)
Baby talk by adults: yummy, scrummy...

Anonanonanonagain · Today 08:01

'How do you think I feel'? When you say anything to some people about your job/car/the heat/kids - always need to make themselves somehow more important and/or more of a victim.
See also 'Even I don't do/see/think that' - Even I? Cos you are the most important and people should look up to you?

This is not a phrase however upon hearing really annoying and pretentious things my mum a couple of years ago trying to sound important telling us how much her husband appreciates her because 'He sent to Germany for a book for me'. Eh, mother, he ordered it on amazon.de you fucking fake snob. I am not a fan of my mum as she is the type to use my aforementioned phrases.

Most 'blue sky thinking' office drivel annoys me especially when one colleague is always on about her swings and roundabouts....

Influencer shite like 'My heart is so full'. Actually no Tracey I have met you and your heart is as empty as your brain seems to be you are just using pics of your nieces and nephews to post selfies looking for admiration.
Also when I read 'making memories'. Are you though? What happens if you get dementia?

Space. This space is huge, you can do so much with this space etc. Eh it is a bedroom/kitchen/toilet just say the name of the room and stop calling everything a space.

Unalived.

Anonanonanonagain · Today 08:00

thenewaveragebear1983 · Today 06:52

I actually quite like ‘reached out’ - I use it at work when I mean “someone’s told me to contact you and I don’t know who you are or even what I’m asking but 🤷‍♀️ “

I hate “circle back”.

I despise picky bits. And even worse M&S picky bits. Like they are somehow better. Reminds me of scabs and flaky skin

I HATE normalise , it’s all over social media now “let’s normalise …..”

That is because it has been normalised....

malloryknox123 · Today 07:04

I had a line manager who used “ in terms of” to preface everything they said.

in terms of your annual leave, I can approve it in terms of the data being available.

in terms of our call today, please prepare a report in terms of the daily expenditure

it terms of tomorrow, we have a client onsite in terms of our approach

it got wearing

thenewaveragebear1983 · Today 06:52

I actually quite like ‘reached out’ - I use it at work when I mean “someone’s told me to contact you and I don’t know who you are or even what I’m asking but 🤷‍♀️ “

I hate “circle back”.

I despise picky bits. And even worse M&S picky bits. Like they are somehow better. Reminds me of scabs and flaky skin

I HATE normalise , it’s all over social media now “let’s normalise …..”

Hiddenmnetter · Today 06:49

longtompot · 02/08/2026 19:05

Hack instead of tip or idea

I think that in this context hack doesn’t just mean a tip or idea, it means a tip or idea that specifically uses something in a way not intended. So an “ikea hack” is referring to the way people cut and combine different bits of Ikea furniture in ways not specifically intended (for instance when I used a few sets of Ikea drawers to make a window seat in a bay window).

It’s interesting, lots of the objections here are to phenomenological language. Some of it is objection to “twee” phrases (holibobs, etc) but stuff like “reaching out” or “speaking my truth” aren’t actually senseless phrases. They’re an adaptation of ordinary English that is rooted in the encountering of the world or oneself. I don’t think Heidegger would enjoy it, but it’s basically his phenomenology in the ordinary-everyday. I think there’s something American about it, because the English don’t usually tolerate or encourage a description that is rooted in subjective experience (despite it coming from a Europe). We’re a culture given to objectivity.

i suppose it might also be just a cultural intrusion from the colony, but I think it’s persistence is because there IS something about language that describes experience of ‘encountering’ that people like.

Maisymouse2 · Today 06:25

Harden up..
We got this..
My bad...i can not stand it.
Lets regroup...like some weird cult

WhistlerKimono · Today 06:21

Mokel · 05/08/2026 06:57

Brew is a northern term

Yes, I know. It’s awful. Not because it’s northern, because it’s an annoying word.

daisychain01 · Today 06:19

Drumbeat is very military

iamme21 · Yesterday 20:32

I heard a terrible one in work yesterday, a ‘drumbeat of meetings’
WTAF?

ilovepixie · Yesterday 19:09

Use your words
indoor voice
going for food
reaching out
touching base
it’s giving

iloveanearlynight · Yesterday 19:00

Mokel · 05/08/2026 06:57

Brew is a northern term

So what? Still a very irritating word.

Mokel · 05/08/2026 06:57

WhistlerKimono · 04/08/2026 08:27

Yes, but it’s marginally better than ‘brew’, which I find inexplicably horrifying…

Brew is a northern term

MrsShawnHatosy · 04/08/2026 10:29

Cosyblankets · 03/08/2026 12:44

If someone can't bring themselves to use the word died about their loved one that's absolutely fine by me

And me.

Puddledaf · 04/08/2026 08:29

when somebody says low key in a sentence that is low key annoying 😀

WhistlerKimono · 04/08/2026 08:27

Mokel · 03/08/2026 14:09

Cuppa

makes my skin crawl

Yes, but it’s marginally better than ‘brew’, which I find inexplicably horrifying…

WhistlerKimono · 04/08/2026 08:25

RumNotRun · 01/08/2026 12:13

I hate it when people use "ain't" to make a point. The rest of the post won't be as informal but then there will be one sentence such as "he ain't worth it". It always feels incongruous and reminds me of Jeremy Kyle.

But that’s what they’re referencing! Jeremy Kyle or one of those Eastenders fights where someone holds someone back from a fracas, shouting ‘’E ain’t wurf it, love!’

sammylady37 · 04/08/2026 08:18

I saw ‘uncomfortability’ in an Instagram post today. Seriously? Stop making up words. The word you needed is ‘discomfort’.

BEAchDays2 · 03/08/2026 15:52

A few ‘bits’ meaning buying new clothes for either holiday or for a new season. It makes me shudder.

ChessieFL · 03/08/2026 15:47

‘If you know, you know.’ It comes across as ‘you’re not special enough to be in our gang’.

‘Tell me x without telling me x’. It’s such a lazy way to put someone down.

‘That tells me everything I need to know’. Don’t know why this one irritates me but it does!

InTheMiddle23 · 03/08/2026 15:37

Broke his/her silence

No, they commented on something for the first time. If they were asked for comment and chose to stay silent for a while, that would be “breaking silence”

LightningTree · 03/08/2026 15:33

My truth.

Mokel · 03/08/2026 14:09

Cuppa

makes my skin crawl

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/08/2026 13:31

Not really buzzwords, but ‘mash potato’, ‘pack lunch’ and ‘ice tea’ really make me want to slap whoever wrote them.

It’s mashED, packED, icED!

Cosyblankets · 03/08/2026 12:44

oldestmumaintheworld · 02/08/2026 22:36

The most annoying for me are:
Passed. As in someone passed. No they didn't. They died.
Super as in super excited.
Upcoming instead of forthcoming.
And something that my daughter says is 'like' three times in a single sentence. It drives me nuts. Please make it stop.

If someone can't bring themselves to use the word died about their loved one that's absolutely fine by me

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