It’s time to once again reveal some of my dark secrets for writing newspaper columns. To pull back the curtain. Air the dirty laundry. And, my favorite, show how the sausage is made.

Today’s lesson: How to make fun of things that really deserve to be made fun of because … well, because they’re easy targets and extravagantly ridiculous.

In case my brand of irony isn’t obvious,  I don’t use cringe-worthy idioms because I like them. I loathe and avoid them. As, I expect, would any ardent admirer of the language of Shakespeare. Rather, I hope to demonstrate the absurdity of using phrases whose meaning and usefulness wore off long ago.

Because I’m editor of a business journal, I’ll focus my efforts on phrases used at work. Those that have become ubiquitous — a dime a dozen, one might contend. Not surprisingly, there are lots of usual suspects to round up as well a few new ones.

Prebly, a company that provides a language learning application and e-learning platform, recently surveyed more than 1,000 people about their perceptions of office buzzwords. You know, those phrases and terms that seem impressive, but mean little. In other and better words — full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Fully 42 percent of those who responded to the survey chose “new normal” as the most annoying new buzzword of all. If the new normal includes the use of the phrase new normal, who wouldn’t be sick of that? “Lean in” came in a distant second at 18 percent, followed close behind by “hop on a call,” “level up” and “out of pocket.”

Other phrases also garnered their shares of disdain, among them “circle back” and “boots on the ground.” That’s not to mention “work hard, play hard” or such other terms that remind people of the stress of their jobs as “fast-paced environment” and “hustle.” For that matter, people aren’t fond of the comparisons sometimes ascribed to expectations for their performance, including “rock star,” “guru” or “ninja.”

As is the case with everything else, generational differences in the workplace also affect the use of buzzwords. Members of Generation Z — those born between 1996 and 2015 and the newest additions to the work force — prefer “vibe,” “lit” and “basic.”

As a member of the baby boom generation, I’d require a translator to understand what they’re talking about. Perhaps they’d feel the same way if I ever gave into the temptation to “get my ducks in a row.”

I suppose my secret about writing newspaper columns isn’t much of a secret, is it? Choose a topic that’s easy to ridicule, exaggerate to the greatest extent possible and throw in some irony for good measure.

As for using buzzwords, don’t. Eschew obfuscation.

Phil Castle is editor of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or phil@thebusinesstimes.com.