Cross Cultural Skills

The Buffling Phrases Britain Hates

by on 12 December, 2008

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What is “buffling”?   Listen to this to see it in action.


“Buffling” is a new term for business waffling.

Here is a list of the most hated ‘buffling’ phrases in the UK.

  1. Thinking outside of the box
  2. Touch base
  3. At the end of the day
  4. Going forward
  5. All of it
  6. Blue sky thinking
  7. Out of the box
  8. Credit crunch
  9. Heads up
  10. Singing from the same hymn sheet
  11. Pro-active
  12. Downsizing
  13. Ducks in a row
  14. Brainstorming
  15. Thought shower
  16. 360º thinking
  17. Flag it up
  18. Pushing the envelope
  19. At this moment in time
  20. In the loop

These are the results of a survey carried out by YouGov.co.uk for Ramada Encore, which is a small business traveller-friendly chain of hotels based in the UK.

This survey also found that 46% of those surveyed believed that “buffling” is believed to be on the rise even outside the work place.

Based on these results the video above was made to poke fun at when “buffling” gets out of control.

Clarity For Good Communication

Good cross-cultural communication is clear. And clarity is a vital ingredient to build trust in international business.

But clear communication requires effort. It is so easy to fall into this business waffling.

I think this video is useful to watch.  It brings a few questions to mind immediately:

  • What “buffling” am I doing?
  • What “buffling” do my international clients hear?
  • How can I communicate with more clarity?

It is also interesting to see that they chose a sports environment.

Sports metaphors often do not translate well into other cultures.  They are usually avoided for good cross-cultural communication.

Brush up your international skills…

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Tagged as: buffling, ccc, clarity, Cross-Cultural Communication

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