Here are 10 hollow phrases that people who have nothing interesting to say use all the time.
The calendar filler
The phrase “Work hard, play hard” will tell you that they have no hobbies of their own outside Google Calendar. Big red flag.
This is a relic of the ’80s office scene, a catchphrase for those who lack real hobbies and a healthy sense of balance.
What they’re trying to say is that they run on pure adrenaline 24/7, but really all it means is that they like to do what society wants them to do: work, and then work some more.
The conversation stopper
Nine times out of ten, the phrase, “It is what it is” is not about acceptance. It’s a way of passive-aggressively terminating a conversation. The person is basically saying “I’m not going to take this conversation any further,” without having to justify themselves.
Oftentimes it can sound placid, even sage-like. As if they’re at peace with everything that was just said. But what it’s usually doing is ending the conversation before something meaningful is expressed. No explanation of feelings. No details. No actual opinion.
Psychologists even have a term for it: “thought-terminating cliché.” It allows you to feel like you have a resolution, when you just shut the other person down.
The social shield
Everyone uses this excuse, “I’m a ‘tell it like it is’ kind of person,” to say whatever they want without thinking about the consequences. It’s not about being honest, it’s about refusing to filter themselves.
Rather than trying to understand another person or looking beneath the surface an inch, they’ll spit out whatever thought randomly popped into their head and label it, “speaking truth.”
It also makes any kind of criticism impossible. Question them and they’ll turn it into, “Well I’m just trying to be honest with you,” as if that solves everything.
The empty book
“I’m such an open book.” Honestly, you’ll never hear someone truly open say that.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing someone who tries to tell you that they have no depth. Having nothing to hide doesn’t necessarily indicate a strong personality.
An open book with no writing in it is still an empty book. People who say this are typically the most boring and superficial books you’ll ever read. They mistake sharing every detail of their life for actually being interesting or deep.
The productivity myth
People that believe busyness is a virtue will say things like, “I don’t watch TV; I’m too busy for that.” It’s code for, “I’m a high-achieving go-getter!”
But, what they really mean is: My cultural knowledge is pretty limited, and I don’t really have any fun pastimes to speak of.
It’s a tactic to kill discussions about art, narratives, and shared moments by pretending to be morally better.
The professional contrarian
When they’ve got no smart ideas, they default to contrarianism. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate” is their get out of jail free card for being argumentative and taking no actual stance.
This tactic lets them steer discussions off course and hog the spotlight, even if they don’t buy into the stuff they’re saying.
For a shallow thinker, the performance of playing devil’s advocate is more important than a productive exchange.
The beige identity
It may sound deep and open-minded, but when someone says, “I don’t like labels,” what they’re usually saying is that they’re too lazy to identify their values or fully commit to a particular perspective.
Labels are imperfect things, sure, but they’re what allow us to understand one another; to say that you’re against labels usually just means that you want to be a shapeless blob that can never be confronted for actually holding any beliefs.
The autopilot response
“I’m just living the dream, ” we hear this thrown around all the time. Sure, it’s sweet but most days, they’re just saying it because it’s an easy rote response.
Instead of explaining how they’re doing, they blurt that out and change the subject. No context, no emotion, there’s nothing to talk back to.
Typically, it just means they don’t want to talk or don’t feel like talking much. And that’s perfectly okay, though it shuts down the chat pretty fast.
The performance filler
If you need to start a sentence by telling someone you’re telling the truth (“To tell you the truth…”), then everything you said up to that moment could be a lie.
Interesting people expect honesty. Only people who have nothing to say treat honesty as a filler before they say something incredibly meaningless that they want to seem like more of a big deal than it actually is.
It adds syllables to your sentence, but no substance. Substance is what boring people lack.
The spiritual shortcut
“Everything happens for a reason” is a get out of jail free card for people who don’t like dealing with the ugly, chaotic randomness of the universe.
It lets them dodge doing the difficult emotional work of sympathy or thoughtfulness by giving themselves permission to hide behind spiritual mumbo jumbo.
It’s the epitome of someone who’d rather embrace mind-numbing delusions than face the prickly, fascinating reality of what’s true.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
