Corporate expressions

"Let's circle back" and other expressions that colleagues secretly hate

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Are there workplace expressions that get on your nerves? Many people confess to being exasperated by formal euphemisms that have become classics of office communication. We’ve gathered a few of the most commonly complained-about phrases and the thoughts people have said they provoke in them. Let’s see: Have you been using these expressions?

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Translation: "We are going to have to address this problem sometime soon, but let’s not do it right now." Sometimes it’s a dodge, sometimes procrastination, and sometimes it genuinely postpones an issue until further details are available. Which brings us to the next piece of office jargon…

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Aren’t we all moving parts in the big machines that our jobs have become? This expression is often used to make a project sound complex and dynamic, highlighting everything that needs to fall into place to accomplish a goal. But more often than not, all of those "moving parts" would rather spend more time moving and less time in meetings!

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Ah, yes, nothing says it quite like this expression: "I’m nervous about your ability to handle this project entirely unsupervised, so I will need to check in on your progress soon." Or at least, that’s what a lot of people hear behind it!

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On the surface, it’s a helpful phrase about tackling the easy wins first. But a lot of people agree it has become a bit overused. It’s also not very encouraging when a lot of our tasks are referred to as "low-hanging fruit"!

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This term originated in IT departments, referring to a system’s ability to handle simultaneous tasks. It wasn’t long until the term began being applied to people. Now, workers can be asked if they have the "bandwidth" to take on further responsibilities.

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This line is often regarded as the number-one passive-aggressive interjection. "Per my last email" is the office worker’s battle cry, wielded after someone continues to ignore a request or has overlooked important information already shared. It’s polite on the surface, but you can feel the underlying frustration.

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A favorite for smoothing over mistakes without admitting fault. "Going forward, we’ll make sure the invoices go out on time" translates to: "Oops, we forgot again, but let’s pretend this is a new chapter." It can also appear in the form of a request: "Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again going forward."

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People tend to fear this word. It may be because it often serves as a euphemism for "dynamics that can’t be escaped within this team." Of course, very good teams can develop excellent synergy. But if the term keeps coming up as an impossible standard to reach, it can become frustrating.

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Those are the magic words everyone wants to hear after a long virtual meeting. "Let’s take it offline" sounds like music to tired ears after four hours of awkward Zoom exchanges. It also means: "We’ll deal with this later, at a time when we can both take our sweet time replying to each other."

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This phrase is meant to encourage efficiency, but it often reminds everyone that they’ve been stuck in the same workflow since 2003. It’s the last thing you want to hear if you are an inventive worker with concrete suggestions for new systems that might be better.

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This term can feel vague and impersonal. It refers to people who might be interested in a situation or outcome, but it often sounds inflated. Couldn’t we just say "the people affected" instead?

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It might be intimidating when you are asked to "ideate." Do they mean they want you to think? Why not simply use that word? A clearer alternative would be "come up with ideas" or "brainstorm," another corporate classic.

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This expression originates from the 1950s ad agencies. It means "let’s see what the higher-ups think" or "test the idea before committing." To many, it sounds outdated, overly formal, and somewhat intimidating.

Wild science

What if everything you know is wrong? 12 real theories say so

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All great scientific breakthroughs begin as wild—albeit informed—guesses. While not all theories hold up against the evidence, many still offer fascinating insights into the strange nature of our world and the workings of science itself. From multiverses to simulations, there’s no shortage of weirdness in the scientific community. Before you shrug them off, consider this: these strange theories may sound outlandish, but many are supported by real data and serious research. For now, the jury’s still out—so why not explore them for yourself?

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Yes, that—but not the kind of hologram you're probably thinking of. It's actually much weirder. Some physicists, like Juan Maldacena and Leonard Susskind, propose that everything we experience—space, time, matter, even gravity—might just be a 3D projection of information stored on a distant 2D surface.

The idea comes from black hole physics. Scientists discovered that all the information about what falls into a black hole might be encoded on its outer surface, not within. This strange result led to a profound question: What if our entire universe works the same way? While we’re far from proving it, the holographic principle has become a powerful tool in theoretical physics.

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Some physicists argue that time might not be real—at least not in the way we typically experience it. In physics, especially in general relativity and quantum mechanics, time doesn’t behave like a universal ticking clock. Instead, it's often considered a human-constructed framework for organizing events. In fact, many fundamental equations that describe the universe don’t even include time as a necessary component.

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The multiverse theory suggests that our universe might be just one of many. In fact, there could be an infinite number of universes—each with different laws of physics, unique histories, or even alternate versions of you. This idea isn’t just science fiction; it’s taken seriously by many physicists, especially in fields like quantum mechanics and cosmology. While we can’t observe other universes (yet), the mathematics behind some of these theories remains consistent and compelling.

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The Zoo Hypothesis is one of the many possible answers to the Fermi Paradox—if aliens exist, why haven’t we seen them? This theory suggests that intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations are out there, but they’re deliberately avoiding contact with us. Think of it as a cosmic version of a wildlife preserve or zoo: they might be observing us from a distance but choose not to interfere, allowing us to evolve naturally.

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Some scientists argue the universe isn’t just described by math—it is math. Physicist Max Tegmark believes that everything we experience—matter, energy, space, even consciousness—is ultimately a mathematical structure. If he’s right, reality itself is made entirely of numbers and equations. Suddenly, paying attention in math class sounds like a survival skill.

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The Big Bounce theory challenges the idea that the universe began with a single Big Bang. Instead, it suggests that the universe goes through endless cycles of expansion and contraction—like a cosmic heartbeat. In this view, the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning of everything, but just the latest in a series of "bounces." If true, our cosmos might be much older than we think—and part of an eternal rhythm.

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While we barely understand what consciousness is—or how it came to be—modern physics hints that it might be able to influence the material world, at least on the tiniest scales (quantum scales). A key notion at the heart of quantum physics is that some particles behave differently when observed. Although the exact relationship between consciousness and these phenomena is hotly debated, many experiments strongly suggest that consciousness may not be the passive observer we’ve long assumed.

Credit: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Some scientists believe black holes might not just destroy—they could also lead somewhere else. According to general relativity, the intense gravity of a black hole warps space and time to an extreme degree. Some have proposed that this could create a tunnel—called a wormhole—linking distant parts of the universe, or even other universes entirely. No empirical evidence exists yet, but new telescopic imaging of black holes may one day reveal clues.

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What if everything you experience is just...code? The Simulation Hypothesis suggests that our entire universe might be an artificial simulation, like a super-advanced video game, created by a higher intelligence. Supporters argue that if future civilizations can simulate consciousness, it's statistically more likely that we're living in one of those simulations than in the original "real" world. Some even point to oddities in physics, like pixel-like limits in space and energy, or quantum unpredictability, as possible clues.

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Some scientists believe Earth might not be the birthplace of life—it could be Mars. This idea, related to panspermia, suggests that life may have first emerged on Mars when the planet was warmer and wetter, then hitched a ride to Earth via meteorites blasted off the Martian surface. Mars has the necessary ingredients for life, including water, organic molecules, and certain minerals that may have been more abundant there than on early Earth. While the theory remains unproven, it is taken seriously in the emerging field of astrobiology.

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It sounds impossible, but some physicists think future events might somehow influence past ones. Like many of the strangest ideas in science, this comes from certain interpretations of quantum mechanics. In some experiments, particles seem to "decide" how to behave based on measurements made after they’ve already taken action. While this doesn’t mean we can change the past at will, it challenges the idea that time only moves forward.

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What if some dinosaurs were on track to become intelligent beings? Paleontologist Dale Russell proposed that if the small, brainy Troodon hadn’t been wiped out by the asteroid, it could have evolved into a highly intelligent, human-like creature—something he called a "dinosauroid." This idea stems from the fact that the bird-like Troodon had one of the highest brain-to-body ratios among dinosaurs, suggesting it may have already possessed complex behaviors and problem-solving abilities.