The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article of this title really spoke to me–wait, I think that’s exactly what this article is about. I’m not sure why this grinds my gears so much, but it apparently does others’, too. The article, which is probably behind a paywall (i.e. you must have a WSJ to view it), ran in the paper on February 26, 2026, and it sought reader submissions for the “corporate jargon [they] hate the most.” The responses really resonated 🙄 with me; maybe they will you, too. Here are my favorites–or least favorites, I guess.

Bandwidth – the first I can remember this being used was in the late ‘90s, when fiber optic cable was compared to copper lines, and it described the ability of the medium to carry information. Now, it seems to describe one’s capacity for additional work (of course, additional work.)

Circle back – a classic, although submitters forgot to include its close cousin “loop in.” I literally received two emails on March 6 that included these two gems. In the first, the sender said he would “loop in” Sam, who replied that he would “circle back.” Translated, “circle back” means that someone will respond or otherwise follow-up on something, while “loop in” just means to include.

Deep dive – the submitter said, “oh, really? Not investigate, study, discern, discover, find out about, look into? You had to go with ‘deep dive.’ “ I love the submitter’s submission but hate the phrase. Just use normal words.

Lean in – popularized, I think, by Sheryl Sandberg, this one really gets my blood boiling–I know…blood boiling? They’re just words, but for me, it gets worse: change “in” to “into,” and one unlocks a whole panoply of annoyances.

  • Lean into
  • Speak into
  • Pray into
  • Invest into
  • Pour into
  • Step into
  • Plug into
  • Dive into

Reach out: [verbatim from the submitter] This phrase sounds so overblown. “Reach out to Bob in accounting” seems to imply some level of difficulty, like you’re trying to get a personal reply from Taylor Swift or something, when it may just be a matter of walking up to Bob’s cubicle on the other side of the building.

Space – The equity space. The beauty-supply space. The intellectual-property space. The media space. From the submitter: They’re not spaces, they’re sectors or industries. Spaces are well-defined and venerable terms in physics and math. If you don’t know what “phase space” or “vector space” is, then stay away! And if you do know, then don’t consign “space” to jargon space.

Unpack that: “In other words: Deal with it now. It’s so overly consultant-speak cringey that I can clearly picture a corporate off-site meeting about to go into breakout sessions. The consultant is at the front of the room with a flip-chart indicating tabletop topics and instructions. Ugh, pure torture.”

I’m sure you have your own phrases you hate. You can ping me 🤣 on LinkedIn and/or add yours to the Comments section. To piggyback on that 🤣, you can go to our website, where I designed a buzzword bingo generator app. You can play it online during your next company meeting or download and print a bingo card. The only catch is that you first have to enter your email address so we can send you our infrequent company emails where we dispense with jargon. (You can also immediately unsubscribe, too.)