51吃瓜

You just know them when you hear them.

There鈥檚 a sudden break in the flow of a speech, a tightening of the atmosphere as if air has been sucked out of the room. What are these ructions in the speech-time continuum? The insidious reliance on overused words or phrases.

The urge to reach for a linguistic crutch can be overwhelming, particularly when鈥攁s in Toastmasters meetings鈥攄iscussing common themes: overcoming adversity, a willingness to try the new, challenging yourself, and so on. But if we are to excel as communicators, it behooves us to be fresh through authenticity, seek originality and maintain a deadly aversion to clich茅s.

So, what are these words and phrases? A few of the worst offenders include the following.

鈥淭hink outside the box鈥�

The irony of this phrase, of course, is that by using it, people are doing anything but thinking outside the box. Looking at things in an unorthodox way is often a great asset, so why use a hackneyed phrase to convey that idea? Instead of urging action with a clich茅, why not show your audience exactly what it means to be an original thinker and find a new phrase?

鈥泪苍蝉辫颈谤补迟颈辞苍补濒鈥�

The problem with this, as with all clich茅s, is that if it applies to everything, then it applies to nothing. Something that鈥檚 genuinely inspirational should move you to jump out of your seat, tingle with possibilities, and perhaps even change your own life. Avoid this woodworm-riddled old crutch and tell us how something really made you feel.

鈥淛辞耻谤苍别测鈥�

A journey usually denotes an actual physical move from A to B, but the word has been seized on to imbue any of life鈥檚 processes with a profound meaning that often isn鈥檛 fitting. If you鈥檝e been through a process and your life has changed, say so. If you鈥檝e learned new skills and developed personally, say that too. But let鈥檚 not, every time we do anything new or make a mildly important life decision, say we鈥檝e been on a 鈥渏ourney.鈥�

There are many more such phrases, but if we are to become and produce great communicators and leaders, we have to recognize and address words whose excessive use has made them grating and near meaningless. Let鈥檚 do better!