To Loathe the Phrase "Reaching Out"?

[DamnYankee]

Maybe this is just a thing in the states.
Instead of saying, "I'm contacting you because...", it's "I am reaching out because...," etc. It just seems kind of pitiful. Mental images of someone actually extending their arms pleadingly.

What jargon sets your teeth on edge?

I might be a bit older than most of you but I don't get this complaining about Americanisms taking hold of the UK. How we do Halloween here now is basically entirely Americanised.. not to mention much of the commercialism around Christmas.. you're watching Netflix, YouTube, hanging out on Facebook. America has done a lot for our stuck in the mud culture and it can improve our language as well.

Yes!
Reaching out is almost acceptable if it’s a case of, say, a friend you know is really struggling at the moment and you get in touch.
If it is used to just mean ‘contact’ then you can fuck off.
‘We are out of wine so I’m going to reach out to the offie to get a delivery’.

USA can improve our language? When will that start?

"Let's cut to the chase...."

Conversation over, toolish one.

It makes me curious what they teach people in business courses, why, and how to stop it (the latter is likely futile).

When I was a kid my parents were mostly ruffled about words they considered slang or rude. The word “kid” meant baby goats and was banned, pregnant was banned as it was too graphic. Whereas to me the words that are tipping us over the edge muddy things rather than clarify.

And I thought it was just me!

Any emails that "reach out" to me are sent straight to the junk folder.. although I have just saved Errolls flowchart and will be having some fun with that.

Also agree it's a phrase used mainly by recruitment consultants.

America has done a lot for our stuck in the mud culture and it can improve our language as well.

Fuck me. Most of the time it's only sending us back shit bits of language we sent them - like motherfucker. Also replacing "transport" with "transportation" is not an improvement.

I hate it.
I don’t care where it came from. It’s not the nationality that bothers me but the unnecessary nature of it.

This is a timely thread.I just asked my husband to please leave our sitting room and go up to his office to participate in his conference calls.I cannot listen to any more of that gobbledygook .All these stupid phrases that are trotted out over and over.It all sounds so stage managed ,rehearsed and so fake.Its like nobody is and individual anymore.So so glad I don't work in the corporate world.I'd end up in a home for the bewildered after a month.

I invited my brother to a family Zoom call and he said he wasn't sure whether he would "get buy in". I'd never heard that (ridiculous-sounding) expression before, so wrote back asking if it was a typo.

The only thing worse than 'reaching out', in my book is, 'going forward'... 😬

MrsB, I remember a conversation I had with a bf/not-bf who was a journalist, about 25 years ago. He said 'homarge' to me and I automatically murmured 'homidge'. He took issue. I asked him if he was French or speaking French, he wasn't. He asked me how to pronounce 'visage' so I said 'visidge'. He was confused. I said I was speaking in English and therefore pronounced it in an English accent. He demurred. I asked him if he said 'Paree'; he didn't, that was apparently ridiculous. I said his pronunciation of words ending in 'age' was ridiculous, how did he say 'envisage' he said 'envisidge'. I laughed. He bought me a drink and we moved on to other topics (this is a bloke I said "I groove with your concept" to when he came out with a load of ridiculous PR Speak.)

So those awful pronunciations have been creeping in for 25 years. I still don't understand why someone would happily say 'envisidge' but insist on 'arge' for most other things (including visage).

I,m hearing more and more people using the phrase "called out".Even hear it said now in UK soaps such as Emmerdale and Coronation street.Usually used when somebody has been caught doing something underhand or wrong. The saying doesn't make any sense at all.And don't start me on "gotten" when all is needed is got..We would've got a ruler over the fingers of we wrote that word at school..I might as well mention "headed" instead of heading.You can't be headed anywhere if you haven't been there yet.."Ect"instead of etc.The list is endless.

I hate all of those stupid expressions. Also -

"showcasing" - her curves/talent/his hew hairstyle, etc
At the end of the day
Blue sky thinking
Journey - his weight-loss journey/her motherhood journey, etc.
Absolutely - just bloody well say yes!
Awesome - said about anything these days

‘Reaching out’ is the worst phrase used in business, I lose all respect for people who use it and do not engage with them if I can help it

Yes - I agree it's American parroting and really annoying.

It reminds me of that horrible phrase 'putting out feelers'. Ugh! Keep your reaching and your feelers to yourself.

Thank you to everyone here.
Yes to it all.

Reaching out. Speaking to. My bad. Gentle reminder. Ping an email.

All of it makes my skin crawl. I also hate ‘checking in’ with someone.

Why does language have to evolve?? Just keep things as they are, please 🙏

And the faux ‘polite’ but completely incorrect grammar.

‘They gave their tickets to my husband and I’.

‘I suggested that yourself could help with the project’.

Ugh.

I hate each and every expression mentioned upthread.

And it's a really intrusive hatred, so that I end up not actually listening to the fuckwit who's doing the "reaching out".

The use of the word 'invite' incorrectly irks me. You don't receive or send an 'invite', because invite is a verb, not a noun. You might invite somebody to an event. To do that, you send them an 'invitation'. Why have we forgotten the difference between 'invite' and 'invitation'.

Just a small note on the 'homage' conversation. @Jux
Different words with the same endings have different pronunciations. It's a foible of the English language. The 'envisage' argument would only make sense if you could find me a single person who pronounces 'mirage' as 'mirridge'. Regional difference also comes into play, too. My family from North Lincolnshire say 'garridge'. Most in the South East say 'gararge'.

I've noticed people using "reaching out" more and more. It is so irritating and cringey.

There are plenty of better alternatives.

I agree wholeheartedly with the objections raised on this thread. I’d also like to add:

“Dropped” instead of “released”, e.g. Burberry dropped their new collection yesterday.” NO.

”For me” as a sort of rhetorical device - i.e. “That blouse looks lovely. But for me? It doesn’t work.” Awful.

Oooh, ooh, ooh, I thought of another one...'It eats well', said by food critics on MasterChef, but also creeping in among people who fancy themselves as food buffs.

No, your plate of something fancy with fennel on it doesn't 'eat well'. It is eaten! I would be somewhat concerned if my food ate well, I don't want to see my pizza munching the salad, thank you.

I hate “suck it up, buttercup”. I also hate gives me the i*k so much so that I can’t type it!

I hate 'reach out', can I get? and 'be kind' make me want to thump the speaker. I'm quite quick tempered so could be a problem.