A forbidden list of phrases


Do you see what I did there? Nick Mailer  
Interweb Matthew  
Chrimble/Chrimbo Nick Mailer  
Mackee-Dees Nick Mailer  
Hols David G  
On Acid Adam Huffman  
Ablutions Adam Huffman  
Uni Robert Morgan  
The Web Robert Morgan  
Political correctness gone mad Adam Huffman  
anyways John W  
myself/yourself (except with reflexive verbs) Nick Mailer  
Fascist Adam Huffman  
Placky bag Nick Mailer  
For my sins Adam Huffman  
I'm lovin' it Steve Wilkinson  
What-EVER Nick Mailer  
Chattering Classes Victoria  
Detox Victoria  
spiritual Victoria  
Energy (not defined as capability to do work) Victoria  
Intolerance (as in 'wheat intolerance') Victoria  
Oh, my life Victoria  
Like (as used by American teenagers) Levine  
basically John W  
Natch Matthew  
Bzzzzt! Matthew  
Ta muchly Nick Mailer  
Ta da! Nick Mailer  
eeerm Victoria  
Veritable Adam Huffman  
prolly MHW  
He-llo?! Vaughan  
Happy bunny Vaughan  
commence to start MHW  
Hardy Har Har Mr Wilks  
is is Adam Huffman  
A propos of Vaughan  
Yers MHW  
Anyhoo MHW  
methinks Steve  
Edgy Adam Huffman  
Raft (As in "A raft of..." Victoria  
Management Bandwidth Victoria  
Verbal (when "oral" is meant) Adam  
Low-carb Lizifer  
ATM machine Lizifer  
Nuff said Adam Huffman  
'People' as in 'sorry, people' or 'okay, people' Adam Huffman  
Buck House (for Buckingham Palace) Nick Mailer  
Wey hey! (or any variation thereon, like we-hey!) Nick Mailer  
Go figure Adam Huffman  
Tour de force (particularly in description of a film) Sarah  
Off of (I dare you to take this off of this list) Sarah  
Rocket science Adam Huffman  
I kid you not Adam Huffman  
singular (as in "the artist's work displays a singular vision") Sarah  
"Am i the only person in the world who uses their mobile for just phoning & sms?" Adam Huffman  
Narrative - when misused by the same people who misuse "edgy" Adam Huffman  
surreal (except in discussing the specific artistic movement) Nick Mailer  
going from strength to strength Sarah  
Literally - unless literally literally Nick Mailer  
Ask - cf. "a big ask" Adam Huffman  
cuppa Nick Mailer  
"organised religion" (the rejection of which you think excuses your brand of woowoo) Nick Mailer  
'Heads up' as in 'Thanks for the ...' Vaughan  
"End of". Adam Huffman  
'Take off line' when you mean 'Can't be bothered/unable to agree' Zoltan  
So squish. Graeme Payne  
Random (meaning "slightly uncharacteristic" or, increasingly, just "normal" as in "how random!" or "just a random group of people") Robert Morgan  
Can I get (as in when ordering a Frappuccino®) Robert Morgan  
Arf Steve Wilkinson  
stylee Biob  
An unholy union of...  
Fisking Wilko  
going forward Nick Mailer  
notion (as in "In my work I am looking at notions of..." or "I have been experimenting with the notion...") Though I think it's okay to use the term 'notions' if you're talking about ribbons and buttons). Sarah  
Rumours of [x]'s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Steve W  
Egregious abuse of one word sentences e.g. "Best. Thread. Ever." Adam Huffman  
"[We need to be] singing from the same hymn sheet." Steve W  
zero-sum game Adam Huffman  
Uproarious e.g. "Tittybangbang: the uproarious new female-led comedy show." Steve W  
'turning a drama into a crisis' MHW  
'ob' or 'obv' MHW  
Reality (e.g. "but if you're not the you from my reality, where's the me from your reality?!") Steve W  
Shurely [some mistake] Steve W  
some (e.g. "suffer some") Rodti  
Does exactly what it says on the tin (when not referring to Ronseal) Rodti  
"I don't *do* [adjective]" Kevin Sangeelee  
"Cool and groovy" Vix  
Columbian marching powder (unless you actually *want* to sound like Heat magazine or the 3am Girls?) Steve W  
Puh-leez Pope Gregory IX  
so when used as an intensifier Vicki  
Think (imperative, introducing a comparison "think Bowie with a splash of Led Zeppelin") N.G.  
to-die-for MHW  
*izz* (e.g. "fo' shizzle" and variants). "Drizzle" a possible exception. Rodti  
Eclectic - when used to describe a taste in music Tom Cordiner  
"Let's touch base" Damion Yates  
“The [one syllable of d-list celebrity's name]-STER” (e.g. The HammSTER, The HoffSTER). Sir Digby Chicken Caesar  
Fiesty Pat Bryant  
Devastated Pat Bryant  
Helicopter view Tom Cordiner  
RE: (when used in verbal communication: "I'd like to talk to you ree the numbers this week.") Steve W  
My bad Stephen Harker  
(sentence on own line between parentheses) Leonard Hatred  
Postcode Lottery Steve W  
Not fit for purpose Sir Digby Chicken Caesar  
Silly o'clock Tom Cordiner  
Comfort zone Tom Cordiner  
" ... it home" ("really drives it home/ramming it home/brings it home etc.") Tom Cordiner  
PCB Board Steve W  
LCD Display Steve W  
PIN Number Steve W  
Any and all Daphne and Celeste lyrics (either directly quoted or paraphrased) Rodti  
Too cool for school Tom Cordiner  
"Colour me [x]" (where [x] = adjective) Steve W  
"... already", as in "Oh you two, just get a room already." Rodti  
"I third it" (following "I second the motion") Rodti  
get a room A Teenage Girl  
X O'Clock (where X is not a member of the natural numbers such that 1 <= X <=12) Bob McCavill  
innit Honky McFly  
Wizard ("...and then had the wizard idea of...") Steve W  
Erm ... hello?! Tom Cordiner  
phat (unless from a founding member of the hip-hop movement) Rodti  
Hi Both (when addressing an email to two people) Tom Cordiner  
Now tell us what you *really* think (after one has done just that) Nicholas Mailer  
FUD Nicholas Mailer  
pre-order Xavier Morgan  
Chops (e.g. "directing chops," "acting chops") Steve W  
Note to self, ... Damion Yates  
Automagically Damion Yates  
Win, as in "that's made of pure liquid win." Martin Coxall  
Action (when used as a verb) Andrew G  
net net (e.g. the net net of this situation is..." Eztiger  
"I'm not being funny, but....." Eztiger  
To be honest Marquee Mark  
Zany!!! (used of humour - by people possessing no sense of humour) Marquee Mark  
could care less An American Idiot  
superbug BBC Science Coverage  
microblogging Just No  
Invariably (when "usually" is meant) SW  
Hard Working Families Lazy Politico Scum  
Up and down the country (as used, exclusively, by politicians) Richard Nabavi  
least worst Richard Nabavi  
*adjective*!? ...Me?! Baldrick  
At this moment in time (What's wrong with "now") A Pedant  
dialogue (particularly it refers to something inanimate 'the house was in a dialogue with the garden') b.  
medal (as a verb) LS  
impacted Simon  
Debate (as in "we need a national debate about this") David Cameron  
"Answers on a postcard to...." Rodti  
Credit Crunch Nick Mailer  
'Current economic climate' A. Sheppard  
Doh! Summer  
Soi disant Nick Mailer  
workflow Nick Mailer  
root-and-branch Adam Huffman  
app (as in "I paid 5 quid for this cool iPhone app") Nick Mailer  
At the end of the day Steve W  
"In order to..." ("to" will do just fine, thanks) Steve W  
business end Steve W  
Place (as in "my head's not in a good place at the moment"). Nick Mailer  
x percent, where x > 100 or < 0 except in proper mathematics Nick Mailer  
'teh' The Voice of Reason  
Rich (as in "a rich set of features") Nick Mailer  
"Go...." rather than "Go and...", with the possible exception of "Go fuck yourself". Rodti  
The cloud (in wankers' computing terminology) Nick Mailer  
Is it just me or... Adam Englebright  
amirite (as in "women, eh, amirite?") Steve W  
In the national interest Michael Gove  
Curated Computing Nick Mailer  
Will you be about? (Well, about to what? As in 'are you going to be around [...]?') Sophs  
Hiya Sophs  
That's that Sophs  
That's weirding me out Damion Yates  
meet-cute Steve W  
Call to action Nick Mailer  
Pot, Kettle Tom Harris MP  
Allow it Alibaba  
"Deficit Denier" Ed Balls MP  
ecosystem ("There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.") Steve Belmer  
disrupt ("There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.") Elop  
(count ‘em!) Merritas  
How's 'it' going? ---> what is 'it'? Victoria M  
to 'bang' something out - as in an email, a paper or an article Victoria M  
Gangbusters ("This film will play like gangbusters") Steve W  
A black hole in the budget George Coombs  
Grok Foy  
gnarly Steve W  
[x], much?  
lurve  
agree to disagree  
Giftmas  
I loves me some [x]  
oh my heck  
Cost ladder Nick Mailer  
Reach out ("I'll reach out to my sales engineer (sic) and let you know" TSC  
banter Unilad  
the 'rents (referring to parents)  
shoutout  
it is what it is  
put on your big girl panties  
addressing the reader as though you know they're responding with disbelief. "yes, you read that correctly."  
preggers  
["stop that" - Ed.]  
Comedy stylings  
brightest and best  
Maker (as in, "maker culture") Yaweh  
Check your privilege Nick Mailer  
Wow. Just wow. &c. Nick Mailer  
Go home, X - you are drunk. Nick Mailer  
"Learning", as in "The learning I've taken away from this is..." Adam Huffman  
"X, anyone?" - the very acme of lazy, ersatz conversational journalism Adam Huffman  
Give me a buzz/bell/shout Priyanka  
open for business Adam Huffman  
Ersatz Tom Cordiner  
Our children and our children's children Tom Cordiner  
Ramp up Tom Cordiner  
In no way, shape or form Scott  
Choccy biccy Dan Hodges  
X (location), I am in you Ed Pemberton  
We are where we are Andrew  
bad law (unless said by a legal scholar who actually knows what he/she is talking about) Ian  
"I'm not being funny, but..." (proceeds to make trite, possibly off colour observation) Ed Pemberton  
Meh Peter S  
Zero, zip, nada, zilch (and its variants) Peter S  
"How very dare you" (re-added for historical reasons) Adam Huffman  
Skillset Tom Cordiner  


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