Time to start thinking outside the box

The other day I was at a workshop, and one participant used the expression: think outside the box twice during a brief introduction that lasted no more than a minute. I cringed.

Few phrases wrankle me the way this one does. She even said that she was good at thinking outside the box, which is ironic, because if someone was truly good at thinking outside the box, they would have thought of a different way to express this idea, rather than using some tired catchphrase.

I was surprised to learn that while the phrase has recently become common jargon in the workplace, it apparently had its origins in the United States in the late 1960s.

And while we're onto common phrases, why is it that we don't compare bananas and pomegranates, instead of the more common comparison of apples and oranges? And instead of saying, six of one and a half dozen of another, be different and say, thirteen of one and a baker's dozen of another.

Remember that once common phrase, it's not rocket science. Well, have you considered that maybe rocket science isn't that difficult after all? Okay, it probably is, but let's pretend it's not.