Language is constantly changing, but office slang is in a category of its own. A recent study to determine which white-collar jargon people hate the most revealed that “circle back” is the most hated phrase of all the office slang. The phrase is typically used when someone wants to discuss something at a later time, often because they don’t want to talk about it at all. It’s like getting the royal brush-off. A whopping 85% of office workers say it’s the top “soul-sucking corporate phrase” of today. Who doesn’t remember the Biden administration’s White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (pictured), who used the phrase “circle back” so many times in responding to reporters that the meme world couldn’t handle the influx? Even after she left office, Etsy continued to offer t-shirts with her picture and the famous phrase. In addition to getting on people’s nerves, the phrase also discourages people from submitting what could be brilliant ideas. In the end, the much-despised term really means “the problem will never be solved and the task will never be completed.”
