(All Hands on Deck is an annoying business phrase and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

All Hands on Deck

While no one is truly sure why, your boss likes to sound tough. He or she likes to use phrases they’ve heard other tough bosses use – even if that boss was an 80-year-old Navy veteran.

Though not as annoying as sports analogies and metaphors, some military terms like all hands on deck continue to be overused by a few in business today. Luckily for the younger generations reading this, those who rely on these terms are likely to retire in the next decade.

Yippee, we only have to wait ten long years to stop hearing annoying jargon like all hands on deck!

Here’s the situation: your company is facing a crisis; one that requires attention and action from more than just a couple members of the team. Your manager announces to the group, “We’re going to need all hands on deck for this one.”

Of course, the meaning is clear: we need everyone involved; everyone present; everyone focused.

After all, this is critical.

Except, of course, when we don’t really need everyone involved; we don’t need everyone present; we don’t need everyone focused.

Make no mistake, it’s almost always the case that we don’t really need everyone present. We don’t really need everyone focused. Because, of course, this crisis is not all that critical. In fact, it’s not even a crisis.

All hands on deck is typical of most annoying phrases: the user liked the sound of it, so they latched onto it and they’ll never let it go. And, because they now have it in their verbal arsenal, they use it every time they can.

Hearing this annoying phrase makes us wish we could keep our hands over our ears instead having to put them on the deck.

Replacement phrases: Full attendance; Mandatory meeting; Everyone

See also: Boots on the Ground

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon.