Last week Sir Alan Sugar said “you’re fired” to three of the last four candidates in The Apprentice and 8.9m people sat on sofas all over Britain gawping at the expressions of bitter disappointment, shock and anger that these two words inspired.

Most of us viewers know exactly how foul failure tastes. We also know how a few words from a boss can spoil our day, our week – or our career. Yet very few of us will have had these two particular words aimed at us. No one in real offices says “you’re fired” or “that was crap”; indeed, they hardly ever say anything nasty at all.