The question that "springs to my mind" immediately is how do phrases like "Thinking out of the box" come about? What's thinking outside the box got to do with creativity? What box? Who put us into one? Is the box square, triangular or round? I certainly don't have the answer.
Lets do a quick "brain dump" and lets see how many common business clichés we can come up with, and perhaps some of you can "fill in the gaps":
1. At the end of the day . . .(it's when I go to sleep)
2. it's not rocket science (then what is it? computer science?)
3. ballpark figures (would that be baseball or football park figures?)
4. touch base (I’d rather play basketball)
5. 24/7 (that's 3.4285714285714285714285714285714 or 168?)
6. Taking it to the next level (Are we playing games?)
7. socializing the idea (I rather socialize with real people)
8. caught between a rock and a hard place (a rock is a hard place!)
9. singing from the same hymn book (now are we good Christians?)
10. at this moment in time (what happen if there is a time warp?)
11. moving the goal-posts (obviously you haven't seen AFL)
12. the fact of the matter is... (a matter contains an atom, electrons, neutrons and protons)
13. put all in one basket(are we off to the market now?)
14. the bottom line (is where we put our footer information like the page number)
15. blue-sky figures (are there red, orange, purple, silver skies figures too?)
16. a problem raises its ugly head (are we dealing with an ogre now?)
… and there are many more. I just can't think anymore at the moment because I am working with "limited capacity". Too jaded "at the close of business" day to make my brain work "effectively, efficiently and productively".
The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day there is nothing, like, value-added about using cliches 24/7 -- with all due respect, it's not just awesome, but it is at the moment in time, a fad, a fashion statement. The bottom line is that utilizing and socializing with these mumbo-jumbo terms in our daily business dealings is like making you intelligent or something, and making you sound like you know what you are talking about.
I bet that you will be able to "dig out a few more" good ones too. Remember, just think outside the box! You can always try some "brain storming"!
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