A writer with the Harvard Business Review, Bryan Garner, asked his Twitter followers to help him create of the worst, most overly used, mostly nonsensical words used in business. His “bizspeak blacklist“, if you will.

Here, in all their jargon-y glory, are the words you should never utter again.

actionable (apart from legal action)
agreeance
as per
at the end of the day
back of the envelope
bandwidth (outside electronics)
bring our A game
client-centered
come-to-Jesus
core competency
CYA
drill down
ducks in a row
forward initiative
going forward
go rogue
guesstimate
harvesting efficiencies
hit the ground running
impact, vb.
incent
incentivize
impactful
kick the can down the road
let’s do lunch
let’s take this offline
level the playing field
leverage, vb.
liaise
mission-critical
monetize
net-net
on the same page
operationalize
optimize
out of pocket (except in reference to expenses)
paradigm shift
parameters
per
planful
push the envelope
pursuant to
putting lipstick on a pig
recontextualize
repurpose
rightsized
sacred cow
scalable
seamless integration
seismic shift (outside earthquake references)
smartsized
strategic alliance
strategic dynamism
synergize
synergy
think outside the box
throw it against the wall and see if it sticks
throw under the bus
turnkey
under the radar
utilization, utilize
value-added
verbage (the correct term is verbiage — in reference only to verbose phrasings)
where the rubber meets the road
win-win

And, as a nod to one of my longest-standing clients, I would add “open kimono” meaning to be honest, show you’re not hiding anything. So, “open kimono” – I’ve used most of these buzzwords. And now I hate myself just a little bit.