People hate cliches or worn-out sayings. I mean… don’t we all?!

Whatever…

Cliches like “I thank you from the bottom of my heart” and “It’s only a drop in the bucket” sound old, insincere and annoying.

Some expressions have lost their freshness, descriptive power and pizzazz…

Social researcher Mark McCrindle recently surveyed 1300 Australians to determine their attitudes towards cliches and overused words… he identified tiresome cliches that top our ‘most-loathed’ list.

These are the words you should stop using if you want more people to read your ads, emails and sales letters… and if you want to be taken seriously by your clients, prospects, employees, colleagues, kids and partner!

From political cliches to work and social cliches these are the words that apparently make us go crazy…

According to respondents, the most annoying phrases uttered in Australia include “at the end of the day”, “let’s do lunch”, “it’s not rocket science” and “24/7″ among many others.

At work, “push the envelope”, “110 per cent” and “think outside the square” put us “on the same page”.

“The top three worst offenders were deemed to be those in the entertainment industry . . . then politicians and teenagers,” McCrindle said.

According to McCrindle here’s the list of the most annoying cliches:

General

1. At the end of the day

2. Lets do lunch

3. It’s not rocket science

4. 24/7

5. Calling to touch base

6. Bring it on

7. Don’t get me started

8. As you do

9. Tell me about it

10. Your call may be recorded for training purposes

Political

1. Working families

2. Not ruling anything in or out

3. No magic bullet

4. Can I just say

5. The jury is still out on that one

6. Going forward

7. No brainer

8. Having said that

9. Ballpark figure

10. At this point in time

Work

1. Push the envelope

2. 110%

3. Think outside the square

4. Hit the ground running

5. Get on the same page

6. Key learnings

7. Fast-track

8. Cutting edge

9. Steep learning curve

10. Let’s unpack this

Youth

1. My bad

2. Random

3. So hot right now

4. Fully sick

5. So over that

6. Oh my gosh

7. Whatever

8. Totally

9. Chillout

10. Whassup

Social

1. I’m hot

2. Touchdown

3. How’s the weather up/down there? (said to a tall/short person)

4. No thanks, I’m sweet enough (said at the offer of sugar with one’s tea/coffee)

5. Quote… (said while holding up fingers making quotation marks)

6. Enjoy your trip? (said to someone after a stumble)

7. Oh you shouldn’t have! (when someone walks past with flowers/gift)

8. Singing ‘why was he born so beautiful, why was he born at all…’ (after Happy Birthday song)

9. Taxi! (when someone knocks something over)

10. Touch wood (reaching for wooden object or knocking on one’s head)