These Words Make You Sound Dumb. You Aren’t, So Don’t Use Them!

I was born in 1982, so despite my love of Barbra Streisand, public radio, Stephen Sondheim musicals and the musings of David Sedaris, I am a millennial. Somewhere along the way, some of my fellow millennials added words into their lexicon that immediately put them at a disadvantage in business settings.

Words matter. And when you use these words below, you often take any power out of the good ones you say because all people remember are the bad ones.

1. Literally: As in, you literally must stop using the word literally when you mean figuratively. No more “this will literally blow your mind” or “I’m literally dead” or “my brain is literally on fire.” This literally makes the listener tune out whatever important thing you’re saying because you literally aren’t using a simple word correctly.
2. Sorry: I learned a long ago that saying “sorry” for every minor indiscretion (or worse, a non-discretion) took the power out of the words “I’m sorry” when I really meant it. I knew it was time to eradicate the word from my everyday jargon when I knocked on my boss’ door, he said “come in” and the first words out of my mouth were “I’m sorry.” Sorry implies you did something wrong. Only say it when you actually did something wrong.
3. Flossy, On Fleek, One-Hundo, etc.: Guys, I can’t with these words. And you can’t either in a business setting. Even if the person you’re talking to seems like he/she is all cool and what not, these words are a huge no-no at work. I had a young lady walk into a business meeting with me and say, “OMG, your ring is flossy AF.” I learned way later that this girl was actually incredibly intelligent and was a total bad ass in her job, but it took a ton of time for me to take her seriously after that first encounter.
4. Like: I’m a Long Islander born and bred in the era of 90210 and Jordan Catalano posters, so this one was a tough habit for me to break. “Like” was my “um” or “uh” aka my filler word. I didn’t really pick up on this bad habit until I watched myself on TV early on in my career. Hearing it in playback made me realize I needed to get this word out of my mouth and quick. Filler words are the hardest habit to break. Take a good long breath before you speak, and concentrate on speaking slowly and with purpose. Also, concentrate on the word “said” instead of “like” as in “I said to him” instead of “I was like…”
5. Busy/Stressed: “I’m so stressed” or “I’m so busy” are big trigger words in the workplace that you either can’t handle the task at hand or don’t have the capacity to handle stress. Work is stressful, sometimes! You should be busy! If you’re really under water or over your head, that’s the time to claim “stress” and ask for help. Otherwise, you become the boy/girl who cried stress, and no one wants to work with that guy.

So totes take a breath and break these bad habit words, fellow millennials! We’re never going to make fetch happen, so time to understand the power of presenting our best selves by using words that matter/make sense/make you sound as smart as you are!