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Ever been stuck in a meeting drowning in buzzwords? Terms like "synergies", "low-hanging fruit" or "deliverables"?

They're just a few examples of corporate jargon. A lexicon of colourful metaphors, buzzwords and acronyms that you鈥檇 never use with friends or family but have become common parlance in the world of international business.

Workplace lingo might serve as a useful industry short-hand, or a way to gel with colleagues, but it can also irritate, obscure meaning or even hide unpleasant truths. And it's more prevalent than ever.

In this episode, we team up with our colleagues at 成人论坛 Learning English to explore the origins and purpose of corporate language and why we love to hate it; hearing from workplace culture and linguistics experts, professionals in the City of London, a plain-talking CEO, and some of you - the 成人论坛 World Service audience.

(Picture: Business people looking at sticky notes on a glass board as part of an upskill workshop. Credit: Getty Images.)

Presenters: Ed Butler and Pippa Smith
Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Want to learn more about this topic? Click on Related links or go to: /learningenglish/english/features/business-jargon/240925