Words are the tools we use here at Workforce Management and www.workforce.com, but sometimes, even the best tools can get used improperly, incorrectly or far too frequently.

All of us here at the Workforce Management world headquarters know that avoiding overused business clichés—the stuff that all too many brain-dead consultants and too-much-time-on-their-hands CEOs love to spout—is just one of the occupational hazards we deal with every day.

In fact, cartoonist Scott Adams has built a career out of lampooning pretentious business jargon (as well as silly business fads and practices) in his daily comic strip Dilbert. And if you Google the term “business jargon” you’ll find all sorts of fun stuff, from a Web economy bullshit generator to an MBA jargon watch that touts itself as “A tongue-in-cheek guide to business jargon and management buzzwords since 2002.”

That’s why I was amused by a recent survey of the most overused business terms that was developed by Accountemps, the world’s first and largest staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance. The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 150 senior executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies.

The executives were asked this simple question: “What is the most annoying or overused phrase or buzzword in the workplace today?” Their responses included:

• Leverage: As in, “We intend to leverage our investment in IT infrastructure across multiple business units to drive profits.”

• Reach out: As in, “Remember to reach out to customers impacted by the change.”

• It is what it is: As in, “The server is down today, and clients are irate. It is what it is.”

• Viral: As in, “Our video has gone viral.”

• Game changer: As in, “Transitioning from products to solutions was a game changer for our company.”

• Disconnect: As in, “There is a disconnect between what the consumer wants and what the product provides.”

• Value-add: As in, “We have to evaluate the value-add of this activity before we spend more on it.”

• Circle back: As in, “I’m heading out of the office now, but I will circle back with you later.”

• Socialize: As in, “We need to socialize this concept with our key stakeholders.”

• Interface: As in, “My job requires me to interface with all levels of the organization.”

• Cutting edge: As in, “Our cutting-edge technology gives us a competitive advantage.”

This made me wonder: How would my staff here at Workforce Management answer this same question, especially since we are flooded with pitches, press releases and business news from dawn to dusk just about every day of the year? Here’s some of the stuff that drives us crazy:

• Monetize

• Incentivize, and its ghastly cousin, incent

• Nimble, and its evil twin, robust

• Solution: As in, “We have a nimble and robust editing solution that we are trying to monetize.”

• Value proposition (a big favorite of many here at Workforce Management)

So this makes me also wonder, what do you think is the silliest business jargon you hear in you day-to-day work life? Send your favorites along to me, either with a post to this blog or via e-mail at jhollon@workforce.com, and I’ll publish the “best” ones here. I have a feeling that we have only scratched the surface here, and maybe we can give Scott Adams and Dilbert a run for their money.

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