I was hunting around for the origin of to 'think outside the box' and came upon the thing below.
You either think these games are very clever or a stupid waste of time . . .probably depending on whether you 'get' them or not. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Think Outside the Box

The nine-dot puzzle is what I was thinking of: Thinking outside the box

The link veer provided takes us to logic puzzles long used by Elementary school teachers-a set appears in the hallway each week at my school...and teachers and students compete to solve them all first. I love them-but as veer says, it is an individual taste. I have never seen them with the frame of "think outside the box" before, though. None of our books have that addition.

What really annoys me is when someone says "think outside the box" while drawing a box in the air with their hands. Do they think their listeners don't know what a box is? Or how big this particular one might be...as in, "Just how 'out there' does he want us to think?" I'd like to put them in their box and mail them.

Other annoyances-"resonate with"..."get on board"..."wrap my/your head around"..."internalize"

Or how about "....at the end of the day...."

or instead of "orient", it's now "get orientated."

" . . . at this point in time"

As we all know, you should avoid clichés like the plague...

I had the misfortune to attend a meeting where the speaker breathlessly informed us "not to think outside the box, but to think as if there is no box!"

Cliches work so well because they express what the speaker/writer is trying to say concisely and with a minimum of words. Everyone understands what s/he is expressing.

That's the bottom line...

I know where you're coming from..........................

But I promise to never 'alphabetise' anything.

"wrap my mind around" is my least favorite, over-used cliche'.

What is most fascinating to me is how these phrases actually take hold and become so quickly overused.

What may be MORE fun is to mix up cliches! Examples :

that's the way the ball thinks outside the bouncing box ("that's the way the ball bounces" mixed with "think outside the box")

wrap my cow around until my mind comes home ("wrap my mind around" with "'till the cows come home")

that's the plague you should avoid like the bottom line!

(Ok, ok -- I'll admit that some of these don't make a heck of a lot of sense but..... I'm sure it'll confuse people!)

dynomutt- I love those! If I wasn't retired I would like to throw them around an office because I just hated all those buzzwords while I was working.....I used to work with a woman who got them mixed up but not on purpose and we all used to love to hear what she would come up with, "I smell a fish!" was one that got us all laughing in a meeting once.

here was one of my favorites (read as "most annoying"), if ain't broke, break it"

what's wrong with telling employees, "come to work and do your best work."?

One of the phrases I find most irritating are "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Oh, and "git ir done". Grr.

It's not uncommon for me to botch the word order of a phrase. I will admit to putting the foot on the other shoe before. It can be very embarrassing -- sort of like putting your foot in your mouth.

Another annoying phrase which is overused is "to die for"....as in : "Her outfit was to die for" "This chocolate caramel custard is to die for".

Enough.

Just as irritating are overused buzzwords. I hope the word proactive dies a quick death.

dyno, those were great! I also like making a cliche sound just a bit different: a doggy dog world is one of my favorites.

We should "git 'er done" to ensure that the use of the the word "proactive" wither on the vine or crash and burn like a shooting star.

(Ok, I don't know if that even made sense! ;-)And yes -- I should be shot for using four cliches and an annoying buzzword in ONE sentence.)

dyno, I think you've invented a new game, here....

how about "you go girlfriend" or "wuzzzup"

As per dyno's new game:

People in glass houses shouldn't call the kettle black.

A watched pot gathers no moss....

How about:
THINKING OUTSIDE THE LOOP

A rolling pot gathers no black kettles.

Don't cross your bridges before they're hatched.

Make hay till the cows come home

You can beat a dead horse to water, but you can't make him drink....especially in the dog days of summer.

On a pedantic note the accent above the e in clich should be  and not Â, 'accent aigÂe' and not 'accent grave'.

Chris Hitchens on the clichés of this political year: Word Smatter