At The End of the Day...We Use Too Many Cliches

“It’s only repartee if it comes from the repartee region of France. Otherwise it’s just sparkling wit.” - @mmelulu.

We need more sparkling wit in our business discussions. Instead we’re getting bombarded with clichés and trite expressions. And put me right near the top of the list of offenders. But I’m trying to purge them from my vocabulary and I urge you to consider the same.

When you were first exposed to them, these clichés sounded pretty cool, like rock songs the first 25 times you heard them. But when rock stations started playing them every few hours every day you changed channels. It’s the same with clichés. They’re no longer fresh and original. And, when bingo cards with clichés are printed to pass the time in meetings, you know staleness has hit.

What can we do? Two things. We can use other words to replace the cliché. Or, we can just remove the phrase completely. Some are just filler. (Do we really need to say the term, “literally”?)

So, here are 15 I’m sure you’ll recognize and in parentheses a few words you can use as replacements:

• At the end of the day (finally, ultimately)
• Think outside the box (expand your thinking, stretch your imagination, get creative)
• Synergy (work together, cooperate, teamwork)
• On the same page (have a shared understanding, have the same perspective)
• Low-hanging fruit (targeting goals easiest to attain, or quick wins)
• Push the envelope (try harder)
• In today’s world (right now)
• Let’s take this offline (let’s talk in private)
• Put a pin in it (let’s do this later)
• It is what it is (we have no control over this, let’s accept it & move on)
• Touch base (check in, continue our conversation)
• Move the needle (make progress)
• Get your ducks in a row (get organized, be prepared)
• Out of bandwidth (swamped, schedule is full)
• Circle back (return to a topic)

So, what do you think? Are we on the same page? Oops. More work to do.