Junk the jargon! 10 phrases you should never say out loud

Here are some buzzwords that have been floating around the echo chamber (sorry!):

Building and/or burning bridges

Hate to break it to you, but most of you majored in English or journalism. Let’s save the industrial work for the civil engineers—and the conflagrations to the arsonists.

Run it up the flagpole

When’s the last time you ran a flag up an actual flagpole? Running anything else up a flagpole seems counterintuitive. Overuse this chestnut from the “Mad Men” era, and people’s interest will flag.

Take the pulse of your audience and share it

Sounds like a HIPAA violation. Besides, depending on the size of the audience, taking everyone’s pulse could go on for hours. You have better things to do.

At the end of the day

You can’t get to the end of the day if you ignore the beginning of your morning and the middle of the afternoon. So, unless you’re singing along with the cast of “Les Miserables,” ditch this one.

The elephant in the room