I'm Louise Fletcher. As President of 
I'm Chandlee Bryan. As a career coach and resume writer with experience from Manhattan to Main Street, I help job seekers connect with opportunity by sharing news, trends and best practices. I'm the Managing Editor of Career Hub and run 
Perhaps you're wondering about the title of today's post? No worries; it's all good; like, I think the title is so awesome...no, make that phenomenal! Irregardless, let me be clear about something!
Well, if you haven't clicked out of this post yet, I am obviously being totally annoying and most days, I don't speak, or write, like this! That said, last week I was reading about Marist Poll of terms "most annoying in conversation" according to Americans surveyed. If you aren't familiar with the results, you can go here and read more. Beyond the terms that appear in their study, I have listed some additional words that my clients have told me they don't like to say, or hear; feel free to add your own most annoying word to the list.
From the Marist Poll of Most Annoying in Conversation, the words include: "whatever; you know, it is what it is; anyway; at the end of the day." Do you say these words?
From my clients, here's a list of some terms I've compiled through the year of words they'd rather not hear, or say, especially in a professional interview or business meeting:
- Be that as it may; that being said; that said
- To be quite honest
- To make a long story short
- No brainer
- Awesome
- Awesome dude
- Dude
- No worries
- It's all good
- Sup
- Irregardless
- Delish (for delicious)
- Fab (for fabulous)
- Phenomenal
- Bottom line (yikes, I say this a lot!)
- Clearly
- Talk to me
- Um
- Like
- Look
- Etc.
- So forth and so on
- and such
- heith for height
- liberry for library
- moist
- sodie; sodie pop
- young folks
- youngsters
- folks (when addressing an audience)
- supposably for supposedly
- are you gettin' this?
- sucks; this sucks; that sucks
- So
- and so
- Altheimers for Alzheimer's
What word or words do you find most annoying in conversation, especially at a job interview or professional networking event?
cross-posted at billiesucherblog
One I hear too often: "monthly rent will be $_____ per month"
Posted by: Len | October 14, 2009 at 02:03 PM
"You guys" as in "I'd like to thank you guys for ....."
Posted by: Lynn | October 14, 2009 at 02:04 PM
'Utilized' is definitely over-utilized!
Posted by: Linda Herrick | October 14, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Alls I did was... I hate that one with a passion.
Posted by: Ryan | October 14, 2009 at 02:12 PM
I swear if I hear "thrown under a bus" one more time I'm likely to...!!
keep your status "crisp" drives me nuts...are we all ex-tupperware salespeople?
Rilly, instead of really
Talking about oneself in third person...sup wit dat..!!
Posted by: Kevin Shay | October 14, 2009 at 02:25 PM
How about: "let's socialize this" (idea, concept) and "where the rubber meets the road" (uh, what does that even mean??) and "There's no 'I'in 'team'"
Posted by: Christine | October 14, 2009 at 03:36 PM
"Leverage" and "holistic" are quickly wearing thin...
Posted by: Edith | October 14, 2009 at 07:38 PM
Heidi - thank you in advance for making a comment! :) Just kidding, of course...your comments are appreciated.
john larson -- these ones...hear it frequently.
Loren - "I was just discussing this earlier" -- I agree!
Suresh - good one...haven't heard that one too frequently.
Thank you all for taking time to share your thoughts!
- Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 14, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Joe Anderson - Outstanding! I hear it all the time!
Brian Turner -- we definitely need Emily Post to weigh in on this entire thing...pacific....I actually hear people say that -- sort of like "flustrated".
C. Scyphers ~ I haven't heard this....tomorrow I shall start saying it!
Sandy -- not only do we need Emily Post, we need a Merriam Webster rep. for some of these words.
Matthew Ulmer ~ I liked your comment, know what I mean? It was awesome!
IsaB -- AllZ, I, too, hear that daily!
LisaB -- excellent comment, very well stated about the "huh" that is commonly used.
donna - yes, agree; I just don't see how people get pacifically out of specifically.
Becky -- or another variation "sup".
Philippe Dame -- I hear "my bad" daily; I have always wondered about that term's origin.
Juli - I, too, wondered about the age of respondents! I am doing an upcoming presentation on Connecting the Generations...perhaps certain of these words/phrases are generational?
Norm -- I see "in regards to" in cover letters all the time.
John -- for all intensive purposes makes me cringe when I hear it.
Kim Eye -- needless to say; very common, isn't it?
Elaine -- also see "with respect to" in cover letters.
CW -- newly invented words - agreeance!
Doug Hughes -- the point you make is very true! Little things (that aren't so little).
Clearcast Digital Media -- moist and interviewing...this is a true story...my client was told this by the person who shook his hand at the interview: "Your hands are quite moist!!!!" Needless to say, the interview went moist-ly downhill from there! And that, then, is the story of Moist + Interview and my clients dislike for the word moist.
Andrew - yes, supposively, another good addition.
Sam Macalus, Carlson ~ actually, I think you're correct!
Amanda B. Dolan -- yes, your phrase goes nicely with "look."
Becky -- good additions....I often hear others struggle with the proper usage of lay/lie.
Debra Taylor - concur!
Liz -- toiletize, very nice!
Margaret Riley Dikel ~ I attended a seminar not too long ago, and someone in the audience said "paradine" shift.
Thank you all for making a comment! I hope I included everyone on this page...if not, I didn't mean to overlook anyone.
- Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 14, 2009 at 09:17 PM
Len - thanks for your addition.
Lynn - I hear "guys" used hourly, daily, all the time!
Linda Herrick - I see "utilized" numerous times in resumes.
Ryan -- Yes, another version of Allz.
Kevin Shay -- excellent additions, rilly!!!
Christine -- where the rubber meets the road...hear it all the time.
Edith -- how might I leverage all these comments? :)
To all, you are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!
- Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 14, 2009 at 09:29 PM
how about "I could care less" The proper phrase is "I could not care less". And it's overused
Posted by: Maureen | October 15, 2009 at 09:00 AM
how about "I could care less". The proper phrase is "I could not care less".
Posted by: Maureen | October 15, 2009 at 09:03 AM
I'll be sharing this post and comments with my class of over 50 job seekers!
If you just can't get enough, try this tool to generate an endless stream of nonsense http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
Posted by: Chris Walker | October 16, 2009 at 08:26 AM
Maureen, thank you for your excellent addition.
Chris, thank you for sharing this post/comments with your class of job seekers! I have learned something, as well, from all the wonderful comments.
- Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 16, 2009 at 12:02 PM
So what's the "net net?" Are we synergystically collaborating cross-functionally to achieve a net-net? I'll ping you later so that our vision can be cascaded among your team.
Posted by: Lorraine | October 17, 2009 at 08:59 AM
You know I was just starting "feel" like I was using the word "folks" too much in my responses. Now I KNOW there's something to it - general overuse. Good post.
Posted by: Sharon | October 17, 2009 at 02:46 PM
Lorraine -- net-net, yes...have heard that. Cascaded, now that's a good word!:)
Sharon -- I say "guys" more than I do "folks"...wonder if there is another less annoying expression for either?
To both, thank you for your thoughts!
Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 19, 2009 at 09:28 AM
I am so tired of hearing "engaged" – the 2009 buzz word... Lets be honest...you can't engage everything!
Last year it was "synergy"...
And who knew all these years we were saying it wrong.. Harassment (hares-mint) – instead of (har-ass-ment) thank heavens for the Clarence Thomas trial!
Posted by: Kat | October 19, 2009 at 02:28 PM
Great post! And fun that everyone is making additions. It's so important for candidates to evaluate the words they use in an interview. It is their first impression and as we all know, those count! It's so easy to lapse into informal speak when we feel comfortable with an interviewer, but while they might make you feel comfortable, their job is to evaluate you. Choose your words wisely and you'll be sure to have a "Fab" interview! :) Thanks for the fun post.
Posted by: Beverly Weinstein | October 21, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Kat - three excellent additions! Thank you!
Beverly Weinstein - you're most welcome. I appreciate your comments!
Billie Sucher
Posted by: billiesucher | October 21, 2009 at 02:12 PM
When people say "actually..." which is similar to "I know" and the most annoying: When people say "LOL" INSTEAD of laughing??? What is that?
Posted by: Brittany | October 21, 2009 at 05:41 PM
My brother pointed this one out to me. "That's what THEY say."
Who are "THEY"?!
...and when I hear "stold" rather than "stole."
Posted by: Jen | October 25, 2009 at 01:22 AM
Brittany...two good additions! Thank you!
Jen -- thank you for your excellent contributions!
And two more to add to the list that annoy my friends:
* pencil me in
* shoot me an email
Posted by: billiesucher | October 25, 2009 at 02:39 PM
When I am meetings and the speaker says " I was err going to notify ahhh about the next job ahhh at the next meeting ahhhh................
Posted by: Bob | October 25, 2009 at 06:24 PM
Bob, glad you brought this up -- this is very common...a wonderful organization to help an individual improve their speaking skills:
www.toastmasters.org/
Thank you for your comment.
Posted by: billiesucher | October 25, 2009 at 07:55 PM