Trust the office duck shuffler to fowl it up

IF you're up against an important deadline in the office the last thing you need is a "duck shuffler" fowling things up.

- David Jarvis

And if you're looking for some positivity around a new project or idea, then make sure you avoid the "negatron".

But if you think these are words solely used by David Brent and his Office sidekick Gareth Keenan - played by Ricky Gervais and MacKenzie Crook - you'd be wrong.

They are just two of a host of mainly goodnatured phrases which make up Britain's new workplace lexicon according to a study.

A "duck shuffler" is someone who messes things up just when the office has all its ducks lined up, while a "negatron" is the office pessimist.

A woolly-headed colleague who is slow to grasp things and meanders while trying to explain themselves is a "meanderthal".