At work I hate any phrases that include the words 'proactive' and 'team' or 'teamwork'. When employers, these days, insist on employing insanely ambitious, talentless, little oicks with inflated egos, who would boil their own grannies down for soap if they thought that it would advance their careers, I maintain that effective teamwork is more or less impossible!

I also hate the phrase "can I get ...?" as in "can I get a pizza/cheeseburger/doughnut etc." Actually, this is probably perfectly acceptable usage in Chicago or Los Angeles but it sounds sort of annoying and pretentious when uttered by some spotty youth in Manchester (UK). I know that this is very petty and probably sounds a bit anti-American (sorry guys!) but it really grates with me!