(Nothing Burger is an annoying business term 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.)

Nothing Burger

We like burgers. Burgers, as is the case with pizza and nachos, are the kind of food we will always opt for when an establishment claims some famous or special preparation.

Used first by media members and politicians to describe an issue without merit, or (more correctly) without meat. In other words, it’s a burger without any meat; a nothing burger.

Like many new annoying phrases, this one started out clever and cute, then quickly devolved into maddeningly irritating. Hearing a new saying when it’s new is kind of cool; then, suddenly, it’s not only not cool, it’s beyond unfashionable.

Nothing burger was kind of cool for about a week. Today, its overuse borders on the extreme – at least for those who use it.

If you’ve not heard a manager describe something as a nothing burger, consider yourself lucky… for now. You will indeed hear it… repeatedly… for the rest of your miserable working life.

To us, nothing burger feels like one of those annoying phrases the user thinks is too chic to jettison. Once your manager latches onto nothing burger, he or she will never let it go. Everything will become a nothing burger; including, unfortunately, your desire to hear virtually any other phrase.

Even if this phrase makes your ears bleed, that outcome will just be another nothing burger to your boss. We wish nothing burger would go the way of #winning or the Pet Rock, but we fear it will be with us forever.

Replacement phrases: Non-issue

See also: Stay in Your Lane; Optics

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