I recently asked my Facebook friends this question…
“What’s a word or phrase that drives you crazy?”
Here is the list I got in just over 24 hours…
Adult child
Alrighty then
Anyways
At the end of the day
Awesome
Bae
Been there, done that
Better to ask forgiveness than permission
Bro
Circle back
Conver-sate
Cool beans
Could of
CRAY-CRAY
Democrats are for the working man
Did you “axe” me a question?
Dog face pony soldier
Fustrating
Happy camper
Honestly
I could care less
I done it
I don’t care
I feel like
I forgot
I got you
I haven’t (fill in the blank) in a minute
I know
I know, right?
I seen
I’m speaking my truth
If I’m being honest
I’m already crazy, I don’t need a driver
In all reality
Irregardless
It is what it is
It’s not our place to judge
It’s to DIE for
K
Lean into
Libry or liberry
Like
Merica
mmmbye at end of a call
MOIST
My Bad
New normal
New-cue-lar
No problem
No worries
Not a joke
Notate
Oh my God
Organic
Pee-nch
Perfect
Perscription
Real-la-tur
Right
Should of
Sim-u-lar!!!!
Skillset
Sorry about that
Take it to the next level
That’s not okay
The new normal
The wind blowed it down
These ones
To be honest
Truth to power
Unprecedented
Wal-Marks
We can walk and chew gum at the same time
Well, somebody must have a lot of time on their hands
In my opinion
Whatever
Why mom
Would of
Yep
You busy
You can’t make this stuff up
You do you
You know
You’re (or I’m) living your best life
Several things jumped out at me… First, I wasn’t aware that I WAS SO ANNOYING! I had used about 50% of these words or phrases. I thought phrases like “You can’t make this stuff up”, “no problem” and “at the end of the day” were simple and civilized parts of conversation. I didn’t realize I was irritating the crap out of some people.
Another big eye opener… When I was using phrases like “cool beans”, “whatever”, “take it to the next level”, “awesome” and “happy camper”, I was really just trying to sound hip or fun. Instead, those phrases were turning people off!
Third was the amazing number of phrases in this list that were the result of terrible grammar! “I seen”, “liberry”, “did you axe me a question” and “irregardless” are simply the result of someone not understanding proper English, or not paying attention in school to verb tense or spelling lessons!
Finally, it seems that some people just irritate a little too easily when it comes to their “pet peeve” words or phrases! Seriously, if we were totally honest with each other, we’re ALL guilty of using some of these words or phrases! Yes, we need to make sure our grammar is proper, that we’re not overusing a particular phrase, and we can choose to avoid them if we know it is particularly irritating to someone.
Leadership is not just about tasks, goals and projects. Leadership is also about relationship, communication and attitude! Do what you can with the language you use to enhance your leadership and your organization!