Oxford University today released a list of the Top Ten Most Irritating Phrases (read the article before continuing)…

I admit, I am personally guilty- absolutely guilty- of using a number of these phrases quite often.  With all due respect to Oxford, however, if these phrases are used in fairly unique contexts, and not just 24/7, then they aren’t really so annoying.  Right?

After all, at the end of the day, it’s a nightmare trying to come up with unique phrases and expressions.  I suppose we shouldn’t of all used the same ones…then at least some of us would be able to claim originality.

But, at this moment in time, that isn’t the way it works, is it?  In our efforts to be unique and different and “cool”, human beings have a pack mentality- even if it’s subconscious.  We all want to be different, but we don’t want to be so different that we’re viewed as weird.  As a result, we all wind up being different in basically the same ways.

Think about it.  The iPod was a first of its kind- truly different.  And, because Apple’s competitors want to be different, too, they all released a new product to compete with the iPod.  Each claimed their product was different.  But they were all different in the same ways, and they all got lumped into the same category.  And the iPod still dominates.

I addressed this in a previous post that dealt with business names for Web 2.0 brands.  Web 2.0 names are notorious for being different in the same way that all the rest of them are different.  MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Diigo, Fark, Faves, Furl, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Google, Kaboodle, Link-a-Gogo, etc.  These are all cool names.  But they’re all cool in the same way.  None of them really jumps out.  So, it begs the question…are any of them really cool in their own right?

Things get irritating when they are repeated too often.  That holds true with language, product ideas, brand names, you name it.

If you want to set yourself apart in your category, then have an original thought.  Don’t be original in the same way that your competitors are original.  Be truly original.  Start by coming up with original words and phrases to describe your brand.  Really, it’s not rocket science…