I was recently on an email exchange with a group of friends as we planned an upcoming trip. One friend asked if we could move up the trip and leave the next day. Another friend, replied, “TOTES.”

My first thought was, “Why are we bringing tote bags??”

It took me 7-8 seconds before I realized that, “TOTES” stands for, “TOTALLY.” And that is when I realized that I am SO old school, I can’t keep up with the slang anymore. Without looking it up, I wouldn’t have any idea what, “Hundo P” or, “P” or, “TBH” means. (For those of you who are also old school, that is “100%,” “Pretty” and, “To Be Honest.”)

And that is why I appreciated the article recently published by Nonprofit with Balls: “21 Irritating Jargon Phrases, and New Clichés You Should Replace Them With.” I laughed when I realized how many weird phrases we use without even thinking about it (truly, what is a wheelhouse?!!) – and I am guilty of using almost all of them. It’s no wonder that we have so many communication struggles in our society; no one really knows what anyone is saying. Read the article for a good laugh, but here is my favorite:

Think outside the box. Such a cliché. We need something new. Replace it with, “Let’s think like a pterodactyl!” You may be thinking, “That makes no sense.” Well, that’s because you’re not thinking like a pterodactyl.

The struggle is real, people.