Annoying buzzwords/phrases.

155 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:

Anonanonanonagain · 09/08/2026 08:00

thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/08/2026 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....

Anonanonanonagain · 09/08/2026 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.

seawitchandgarden2 · 09/08/2026 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...

sammylady37 · 09/08/2026 15:07

I don’t even know how to describe this, is it influencer talk, therapy babble or what, but ‘I owned my part in in’, ‘I named how I was feeling’, ‘I named the space I was in’, ‘I thanked him for sharing his thoughts on it’ …. infuriating! All those phrases were uttered to me recently by a friend who had ONE date with a guy and then decided not to see him again.

longtompot · 10/08/2026 16:56

Hiddenmnetter · 09/08/2026 06:49

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.

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It's not how it's being used that annoys me tbh. It's because it's being used everywhere for everything & it grates. Really grates.

That said, even the IKEA hacks that I've seen aren't usually hacked apart, they are painted or have trim attached, or it's a Kallax unit that's been turned on its side with wheels and a top attached

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