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They may be annoying, but cliches, platitudes and management speak will be around as long as we continue to use them

CLICHES, PLATITUDES and hackneyed words – they are the instant noodles of everyday language: bland, readily available and requiring the minimum of effort. We use them out of laziness, an easy shorthand when we can’t be bothered to engage our brains. But their very ubiquity means that, to many, they have become a serious irritant. A recent US poll showed that “whatever” was considered the most annoying word or phrase, followed by “you know”, the tautological “it is what it is” and, perhaps inevitably, the footballer’s favourite, “at the end of the day”. The latter topped a similar list by researchers at Oxford University, alongside “fairly unique” (a rather inelegant oxymoron) – and another tautology, “I personally”, which Radio 4 presenter John Humphrys described as “the linguistic equivalent of having chips with rice”.