Stop asking to ‘touch base’ and ‘think outside the box’ - the most loathed jargon phrases revealed

Research has revealed a list of the UK's most loathed jargon phrases.

Topping the list of the nation’s most insufferable sayings was ‘touch base’, quickly followed by ‘sliding into DMs’ then ‘thinking outside the box’.

The place we most frequently see or hear jargon is social media, with 40% of us agreeing it’s the most frequent offender for spewing jargon, closely followed by the news (33%) and the government announcements we’ve been tuning in to over the past few months (28%). Nearly one in five (19%) hear most jargon at work. It's all according to research commissioned by mobile network SMARTY.

Interestingly, much of this commonplace office speak is lost on many workers. 66% of people admit they don’t know what ‘spit balling ideas’ means, while 25% say they have no idea what ‘touch base’ means either. It’s unsurprising then that 2.8 million people in the UK admit that every single day they go along with a conversation or reply to an email pretending to know what’s being said when they in fact have no idea what the jargon being used means.

To help keep things simple for the nation, SMARTY Mobile has teamed up with award-winning comedian and actor Guz Khan – known for roles including Man like Mobeen and featuring on Live at the Apollo. Together they have dissected the nation’s most hated phrases to form a world-first ‘Jargonary’, offering real and honest descriptions into what people really mean when they’re telling you to ‘play hardball’ or get your ‘ducks in a row’. Brits confused by jargon can tweet @SMARTYMobileUK for their chance to win a copy.