General Chat

Have any of you noticed - especially those in business - an irritating phrase that is being used more and more by people when they don't know what to say next? Once upon a time people might say, "er....", but now they say, "moving forward...."!

It's so annoying because in most contexts the phrase is completely meaningless, yet it peppers people's conversations, correspondence and even business documents.

There are of course some occasions when its use is appropriate, but it now seems to be part of business grammar. I've just been proofreading a presentation document and it has appeared three times on one page!

I thought Americanisms were bad enough!

Anyway, .... moving forward....

:-S :-S

At one time "on board" was the expression of the day. As in hello Tom nice to have you on board or I have some new ideas thet I hope you will all take on board.

I used to work for a chap who, whenever the conversation came to an end, he wasn't quite sure what to say or how to leave, so he would say "ah well, onward and upward"......half a dozen of those a day used to positively 'do me 'ead in'. :-D

EDIT.
TS....just noticed your post. Yes, taking things on board was, and still is, a rather annoying phrase to me, too. I was often tempted to ask if we are about to embark upon a luxury cruise, but I didn't, I would just inwardly groan instead :-0

I used to have a boss who would say "onwards and upwards" all the time and I would groan inside whenever I heard it. He also used to refer to people as 'user-friendly'... obviously a phrase he had picked up in reference to ergonomic design, but he clearly had no idea of its meaning! He also assumed everybody shared his interest in Welsh Rugby and would turn the conversation to this subject at every opportunity. I well remember a receptionist smiling sweetly but bemused as he regaled her on the weekend's game, probably with her finger feeling for the button to summon security!

I used to work with a guy who would say "by and large" constantly.

He wrote a report and asked me to check it for him, because he was terrible at spelling and punctuation...... this had to be done, because the typists just copied (this was in the days before computers and spellcheck).

Checking the report was a challenge, I had to rewrite most of it to make sense, especially ............. "by enlarge"

:-D

My line manager constantly says "with all due respect" before she has a go at someone grrrr

I really detest it when, upon answering a question, people (particularly in the media) begin 'So..'
I was always taught NEVER to begin a sentence with 'So'.

What they mean is 'Well...'

So, learn to listen to silence. (So sorry!)

You so and so :-0

The term I hate with a vengeance is "stakeholders" (meaning interested parties). Working in central government has that crop up ad nauseam.

MP's who pronounce decade, decayed, or perhaps they really are talking about the last ten years/future ten years being rotten.

Okay, you can say it should be pronounced like decayed, because decide, decline, and deny all have the 'dee' sound, but words to do with ten - decimal, decagon, etc have a root in the word Deca.(that's pronounced Deka, not Deeka)
Deci (that's Deki not Deeki) is a combining form meaning tenth, used in units such as decimal, decimate, decimeters, deciliters, and decibel.

Therefore, as a decade is 10 years, it should be pronounced Dekade, not Deekade.

So much for private education


:-| :-|

I'm loving this thread. Stakeholders! Yes!!!! Don't you just hate it! "By enlarge"..... priceless! As for Spellcheck, if people are stupid enough to rely on it, they deserve to make fools of themselves. Let me throw another one in the pot: "Literally". Aaaaaagh!

... Not to mention "150%" and all its stupid variations.

Has anyone mentioned the gross over use of the word 'basically'? aqrrrrggghhhh!! Mind you I have just been gently advised that I am rather prone to use the expression 'on with the motley'. Never!! :-D :-D

So, basically, ;-) and, especially over the last decayed ten years, stakeholders are literally moving forward with these phrases, taking them on board, by enlarge :-( without really understanding their true meaning :-(
So, with all due respect, onwards and upwards.

Tee hee. :-S :-D

:-D@Karen

To be honest..........

:-S :-S :-S

"Thinking outside the box" ... :-S :-S :-S

Grrrrrrr :-|

"Pushing the envelope here" and "looking at the bigger picture", "don't quote me" ...but "all is not written in stone" :-S

Heard these expressions for years :-| :-|......sacre bleu ;-) :-D