During meetings, we keep hearing phrases like “circle back”, “you’re on mute”, “at the end of the day”, “deep dive” and “supply chain” and these need to be banished, according to ‘Banished Words 2022 for Misuse, Overuse and Uselessness’ from Lake Superior State University.

The annual list (since 1976) highlights phrases and words that are overused and, at times, wrongly used. In the past year, more than 1,250 words had been submitted for consideration, with nominations coming not just from within the US but from Norway, Belgium, England, Scotland, Australia and Canada.

“Say what you mean and mean what you say. Can’t get any easier, or harder, than that. Every year submitters play hard at suggesting what words and terms to banish by paying close attention to what humanity utters and writes. Taking a deep dive at the end of the day and then circling back make perfect sense. Wait, what?” said LSSU president Rodney S. Hanley in a statement.

Among the culprits on the list are “no worries”. The LSSU list states: “If I’m not worried, I don’t want anyone telling me not to worry. If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset.” Despite its meaninglessness, the term is recommended to emailers by Google Assistant.

Also on the list is “asking for a friend” about which LSSU says, “Misuse and overuse through deceit—because the friend is a ruse. This cutesy phrase, often deployed in social media posts in a coy attempt to deter self-identification, isn’t fooling anyone. Paraphrasing one sage, ‘Once used to avoid embarrassment, as in, ‘Do you know a good proctologist? I’m asking for a friend.’ Sometimes an occasional sitcom joke. Now an overused tag with absolutely no relationship to its antecedent.”