are "Ooh" and "Betty"

No I bloody don't.

"Do the Math." - *shudders*

"Go Figure" - *gags like a cat with a furball* -

Both of the above are at their worst said in any British accent..

"Surely." - as in "you surely can." What's wrong with "Yes"?

"Discuss." - When barked as an order at the end of some dreary theory.

"Back in the day." - What day? When??

'At the end of the day' - yawn!

"Bailiwick." - As in "it's not my Bailiwick". I've only heard this wheeled out on one occasion, but it was used three times by a repeat offender during one meeting. Unforgettable and unforgivable.

"It was all I could do." - What was all you could do? They never say!

'To be fair' worst at the end of a comment

than something very trivial such as:

"finding no biscuits in the tin"

"failing to find a parking space"

"listening to Lily Allen"

There are LOTS of things worse than almost any of things that trigger the use of this hackneyed phrase.

The other is the "turned round" and its variations. As in, "I turned round and said to her" or "Do you mean to turn round and say to me?" Were all these people standing back-to-back during their earlier conversations.

I leave "the Word massive" (another phrase that may soon wear out its welcome) to decide?

No. I fucking don't.

Period.

and other Molesworth quotes.

No I'm not. Nor about anything else by the person almost single-handedly responsible for ruining what was turning out to be a surprisingly good Dr Who revival.

Not a lot, but I like that.

See what I did there?

Lazy

going 'oh my days' like they're 72 or something

grrr

that's the time to start using them again, as sure as the hoover dams a vacuum (remember that one?!)

Touch Base. Horrible phrase

I was reading a book review in this month's Word and read this phrase. I couldn't read on, I just associate it with bragging 12 year-olds and was amazed a Word journalist would use it.

several catchphrases joined together in search of a joke. Can't stand the woman...

No. Really, it isn't.

don't you understand?

"....NOT!" from Wayne's World, followed by "Wassup" from the Budweiser ads marked the nadir of whatever it is we are talking about....NOT! (See how irritating it is?)

no I most certainly am not 'lovin' it', oh purveyors of filth in a bun.

which I absolutely love although I have yet to hear them...

Some background: there is an expression in Italy 'tamarro', which is a term of abuse for a certain type of person who tries to dress really cool but actually looks like a twat. Typically the tamarro will wear ludicrous sunglasses 24 hours a day, ripped jeans, incredibly tight t-shirts and probably have a fantastically stupid haircut. Male tamarri will drive a car which has had all manner of junk added to it, probably including tail fins. Bad dance music will blare out of it.

Anyway, the two tamarro phrases that I most want to hear are "paura!" and "Oh raga, troppo storia!". I would try to translate them into English, but it's very hard to do so.

No they're fecking not.

Is it bollocks...

Not quite on subject perhaps but I came across someone the other day whose job was described as Transformation Director of a large company. He had taken them,apparently on a transformation journey.
I also cannot stand myself or yourself used where a simple you or me would do.

Oh how I laugh every time I hear that.

Someone picks up the phone and after introductions says "What can I do you for?". Why would I ever want to pay for live comedy when natural comedians are all around?

with the sentiments expressed in the discussion arising from this topic. Let us preserve the purity of a language untainted by colloquialisms and figures of speech. Let the OED be the arbiter, and let us guard against the infiltration of neologisms and slang phrases into its hallowed pages. Quite right. Makes one proud to be one of Her Majesty's subjects.

That's so not cool. I'm like don't even go there. 'Cos if you do I so won't be there for you.

...some fool uttered the phrase " to push the envelope " and we all fell about laughing.

...used constantly and often totally out of context by a completely humourless woman I worked with.

She also used to sprinkle the phrase "too much information" largely because she had noticed that this gets a laugh sometimes.

She responded to my comment that a brochure we produced had too much information in it by saying. "Yes! Hold it! Waaay too much information there". Silly moo.

Ugh! I once promised myself to walk out of any job interview if this was uttered. Thankfully it never has, but there's time yet.

Ditto "Blue sky thinking".

I can never remember what it means but I know I have to constantly keep my eye on it.

on nonsense job titles. I regularly get press releases from a PR firm which doesn't have Account Managers. Oh no. It has Brand Alchemists.

...my current non-favourite phrase is "Give me solutions, not problems". Usually it's issued by some idiot who, as a result of their 'blue-sky thinking', has just asked you to do something verging on the impossible and you've had the unashamed temerity to point out that it verges on the impossible. I can't decide whether the idiots who spout this nonsense are lazy or just plain stupid (but either way, they almost certainly get paid more than you).

I've worked in advertising/design agencies for over 20 years and have heard some absolutely unfathomable sayings over the years:

"Ballpark figure" - what are we working in baseball speak now?
"Tie it to an elephant and run with it" – I don't even know where to begin with this?
"Run it up the flagpole and see how it flies" - hand me my gun now please!

One account handler I worked with was a walking 'shit-speak', so much so, me and some colleagues used to secretly play 'phrase-bingo' in every meeting they were in, to see how many we'd get in a hour - often quite a few winners!

.

apprently means solve the easy problems first. Well why didn't you say that?

'At the end of the day' -it's the evening. I think you mean ultimately?

a double skinny latte with no foam to GO..."

Staff: "Sure, come round this side of the counter, there's the machine, GET it yourself and then GO and f**k off you f**kin' t**t".

the Jonathan Ross Show."

Thinks: "No. I have the intellectual capacity of a housebrick and the attention span of a particularly impatient bunny rabbit. Further, I was so dazzled by your charismatic and articulate speech that, rather discourteously, I paid no attention whatsoever to your comprehensive and comprehensible explanation of the point at issue. However, I am anyway incapable of asking questions about things I don't understand so I offer my profuse thanks for your considerate attempt to ensure that I have got your point and am happy to confirm that your communication has been successful."

Says: "Yup."

OK, I realise this is simply the way that American English says, "He'll be with you in a moment" and that 230 million Americans deem this as normal and perfectly understandable. But to me it says the person in question will only spend a moment in my company. No thanks - I want his full and undivided attention until the matter is resolved and not see him momentarily.

"Cheers". When did this jolly toast become a synonym for "thanks", "yes", "you're welcome", "I agree", "hello", "goodbye" and so on? In some Orwellian future I can imagine it being used for everything, and that's not a good thing.

...in the FT, gives awards for poor management speak, as per the attached. Always a good laugh....

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a41f80a-d8d3-11dd-ab5f-000077b07658.html

I was like....

Causes me a sharp physical pain. It usually prefaces a member of my (2)'management team' - they're at each other's throats - pouring cold water on one of my schemes to use our IT systems better (or (3)'get value' out of it), eg 'Going forward that's something (4) we'd like to do (meaning, 'we'd like you to do') but at the moment we'll have to (5) file it under 'nice-to-have'). If (5) is accompanied by air quotes make that (6).

usually means, "I have quite a strong disagreement with parts of what you said." Quite why you can't just say this is beyond me!

Heard that right from schooldays and it still happens on courses, meetings, etc at work. Usually means the person taking the course/meeting knows the next few hours will be crap but tries to foist the blame on you.

If it's steep, it'll be over with quickly, you fool.

Why do English people* use these phrases?

(1) Ballpark figure
(2) Step up to the plate
(3) Throw a curve ball

Do they even know what they mean?

A colleague at work recently told me that she thought "step up to the plate" was, and I quote, "something to do with starting a meal".

-----------------------

* Or, to be more accurate, the vast majority of English people who know nothing about baseball.

"Legend is a term that is often overused" is a phrase that is often overused.
See also: "Genius..."

Two words to strike ennui into the heart of anyone with a modicum of soul and sense.

The be-striding retail telecom monster I used to work in IT for loves all that cobblers. It's walls are festooned with mission statements, Core Values, and Transformation Goals.

I regularly had to spend time in stark cold hotel conference rooms 'brainstorming' with my peers on how to 'make things better and promote the values' Most of us had lives and so our eyes would rapidly glaze over as we listened to senior management stand in front of a powerpoint screen reading out life-affirming statements. All of this from a company based on a rat-infested roundabout on the A40.

I remember looking at my notes after one such session ended. They said, 'Fuck this'

....was forever "drawing lines in the sand" Maybe this beach obsession made him "walk the extra mile" to his home when he got paid off. Oh I laffed.Prick

but just when it is said incorrectly. I am sick of folk grasping the metal. Or the nettle, nice image tho' it be.
(But then I read this:

"Grasping the Nettle

Shouldn't this be Grasping the Mettle?

Check in a dictionary- the Cambridge dictionary of idioms give 'grasp the nettle', but does not give 'grasp the mettle'.
Onelook, which searches hundreds of dictionaries gives no entry for 'mettle'

Nettles are plants with fine hairs on their leaves that sting you if you just brush up against them, but do not sting if you grasp them tight and boldly. So the expression means to be bold and not afraid, or to get on with something unpleasant, without hesitation.

However, 'mettle' means one's ability to cope with difficult situations, so we have 'to show one's mettle', 'be on one's mettle', 'to put someone on their mettle'

To 'grasp the mettle' is actually acceptable, though not grammatically accurate."

So, my fellow experts, what do you think?)

opens their mouth, it get's on my tits.

do the same with me

Rufu's.

A phrase beloved of 'advertising executives' in my old office. Really, is the stress of being a talentless little muppet so great you are going into cryogenic suspension?

it's like ...... on acid
like buses, they all come at once

and here's one, and any grammarians might help here, in US magazines where they say "kaiser chiefs releases its sophamore album" - what's going on there

At the height of this catchphrase's popularity I was in London's Oxford St branch of "Suits You" and in my 10 minutes there heard several people loudly shouting "Ooh Suits You, Sir!" through the entrance. I said to a guy who works there that I suppose he gets that a lot. He said evenly "You have no idea..."

the witty riposte is always that I should see a Dr. I usually respond by saying I know none I could trust. With a straight face.

GGGGGGGRRRRRRHHHHH - why not 'I like this' - probably the fault of Mcdonalds !

And also - those who don't know the difference between 'lose' and 'loose'

those who pronounce the silent G in singing (hint the first one is silent)

and those who pronounce the 'H' in the letter 'H' and those Americans who don't pronounce the 'H' in herb......

I feel better for getting that off my chest !

When did the trend for notices bearing the words 'Polite Notice'. start. If you're going to put up a notice, which is usually some trite, tight-lipped petty whinge about something, don't editorialise as well: I'll decide whether it's polite or not thank you.

And it usually isn't.

But my current bugbear is people who don't know the difference between your and you're.

Below is the title of an email sent round the whole of our office after the xmas party to announce where to look for the photos!

"Smile your on camera"

I worked for a tedious advertising sales manager for years who's catchline when wrapping up yet another soul destroying and totally pointless sales meeting was 'sell the sizzle - not the sausage'.

Sometimes I thought I knew what he meant, sometimes I decided I didnt and all of the time I really didnt care either way.

As coined by Dermot O'Leary. He of 'Do we not like that' fame. I soooo don't.

how many things actually are?

Football is an easy target I know, but where did this "big ask" come from - as in "it'll be a big ask for West Brom to avoid relegation".

We seem to be including well known phrases, cliches and errors of grammar and punctuation,not just catchphrases. But are there any familiar but nice ones? I personally quite like it when things 'go tits up'. But not when they go 'pear-shaped'.

..........." The Police are appealling...."
They are?
Since when?

but it gets on my nerves....

.....when people on UK tv and radio anounce the date as January 30th. It certainly is January 30th in the USA, but in Scotland it's the 30th of January.

Do they think they're being really cool trying to sound like Americans?

... Please can we include the use of 110%, 200%, etc in relation to how much effort someone puts into their work. Don't be ridiculous.

Other bullshit work phrases I have heard someone use are: -

'What are your worry beads?' - eh???

I also sit opposite someone who uses the following 2 phrases all the time (And NEVER, EVER in the correct context - he'll just add them at random into a sentence. Please try and imagine how annoying this gets - you'll not come close).

'In inverted commas' - eg: "I'm going to get myself an 'in inverted commas' cup of tea"

'Snowboarding' - I'm just 'snowboarding' here. (Usually when going through some crackpot project idea or another).

Thanks, I feel much better for that. Hope I have gone too far off topic!

Get a life!
You need to get out more!
Don't go there!
So he turned round and said...
Don't get me wrong...
I'm not being funny but...
Mate! (usually some dull, half-witted youth you would never want to have as a mate even if he were willing to pay a fiver a minute for the privilege)
What can I do you for?
Credit crunch!
Too much information!
Death by...
Noos (instead of news)
I need some space
He/She's in a 'bad place'

Instead of "should have" - used quite a lot here in the wilds of Norfolk, makes me cringe every time.

"I'm a busy man/woman" usually used to mean "I'm more important than you". Anyone who uses this phrase is a cunt.

I've still to have it explained to me what a "learning curve" actually is other than someone using it as part of an excuse for incompetence.

Finally, seeing as this is a music forum, can we talk about "breakthrough" albums and "crossover" music. We could even mention "fusion".

...as a response to 'How are you?'. To which you may feel inclined to reply - 'I wasn't asking where you placed yourself on any particular moral spectrum, it was merely an enquiry as to your current physical and mental well being?'

I'm afraid I reached breaking point in a recent interview when asked this tedious, meansingless question by my clueless interviewer. I am so tired of pinstriped drivel being spouted by people with little or no understanding of what they are talking about that I basically interrogated the questioner (perhaps a little too zealously) about what he actually meant by that.

After all, if I wake up and fancy a cup of tea and follow this impulse through to its logical conclusion (i.e. the sipping of tea) that surely qualifies me as being someone who is "outcomes focussed)?

I was "retrenched" last July and remain unemployed.

PS

Has synergies been mentioned yet? If i hear that again, I will rip out my knee joints.

Here's one from the world of education and social care - "child-centred".
Since this phrase came into use, the system has been anything but. More accurate phrases would include "stats-centred", "bureaucracy-centred", or "management-centred".

?!?

Usually seen outside hospitals - just next to the smoking patients who are attached to drips and bum-revealing gowns.

It gets used in everyday conversation by people who should know better

I have said is that a 'Wildfowl Alignment Session'? to those who like to 'Get Our Ducks In A Row'.

"So he turns around and says..."

No conversation these days is complete without a series of pirouettes.

hetrogeneous cock speak

still being used by some would be 'coolsters'in their middle years who really ought to know better.

It's what journalists do when they are dealing in short-term nostalgia.

Since Ricky Gervais created David Brent and did that dance. The summer of 2005 and James Blunt singing that song all the time.

and, admittedly much less often

Remember Paul Gascoigne? And those tears? Remember Lordi in the Eurovision song contest and those outfits?

Yes, it's such a clear memory because it's so recent. So please do not use the words 'that' and 'those' as these should be used to describe things which are relatively distant. If you really feel you must - for emphasis - then (like the people who titled 'That was the week that was') do not italicise it.