Favourite (i.e. most hated) cliches!

[MrsThierryHenry]

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

OBM - no worries
or is that another of those really annoying ones? Can I get away with it by being married to an Australian?

It annoys me when people rely on well-known phrases but don't use them properly and mix them up. If they can't use them properly they shouldn't use them at all.

How about this:
"Everyone is going to have to swallow hard and cut their cloth according to their needs". (Head of a well known chain store this week talking about the credit crunch and fall in share prices).

I think he means "cut their suit according to their cloth" - as a clothing retailer, he should know that!

go figure

tlc

I would love to see one of the [in]famous onebat translations of "go figure"
Is it as rude as I think - or surely not that i have a vulgar mind...

Estate agent jargon abounds and really annnoys me.

Phrases like "to the rear", "benefits from" and "would benefit from some modernisation" i.e a dump.

I must confess I used to work in human resources and my life was chock a block of cliches. (Or do I mean jargon?

Now I work in childcare and have lots of new phrases to bandy about like "key worker" and "learning intensions" and "inclusion strategy".

As in "benefits from cotswold stone cladding" - no it doesn't, it's been ruined!

Giggles - I must be super-innocent, as I've been squeezing my brains dry trying to work out what could be rude about that, but can't come up with anything! Please elucidate! (ooh, good word for 11:56 at night)

MTH, oh dear, I think i had a bit of wine that night. But seriously, wondered (as we obv live on a different planet from the rest of you) if "go figure" was the posh equivalent of "go f'#; yourself" [as if were] DH is no wiser either

you are going to give me a perfectly polite explanation now arent you...

Hahahaha! You have a creative imagination; I like it!

I'm afraid it generally means the less interesting 'you go and work it out for yourself'.

Property programmes:

kerb appeal
light and airey
wow factor
good rail links to London
Good schools nearby (I think bad schools are much more character building)

and, in at number one....

Ticks all the boxes. I'm so glad! It ticks all the bloody boxes and they can have their million quid mansion in Surrey. Hoo bloody ray.

Yuck! 'Kerb appeal'! I mean, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!

Eilatan : it's often "reputable" schools. Like people are going to be looking for the "disreputable" ones!

I like it when newspapers say: "In a bid to..."

Which just means: "to"

Oooh, has anyone mentioned "For yourselves" yet?

I hate it when people say that!

"I'll just get this form for yourselves..."
"Can I get a menu for yourselves?..."

etc.

Similarly "myself", as in: "Myself and Jack are going to the pub"; "Please come back to myself in the first instance"; "It will be myself looking after you today" etc etc blah blah. Hmm not really a cliche, more of an ongoing general pedant thing.

It's the mangled cliches that really get my goat. Like "off my own back". It's BAT, I tell you! BAT!

"I'm beyond approach (reproach)"

"fair 'do's (dues)". I mean, what's a fair do, for goodness' sake?

"I work hard - and play hard" stupid expression

UD and Marge, re horrific use of 'self' - do you think it's justifiable to exert 'pronoun rage' on people who do this? My (crap) solicitor does it all the time (he also prefers to write letters rather than picking up the phone so that he can charge more) and I want to strangle him! He's a lawyer, fgs, he's an educated man!

Love this..much better than marking A level papers! Hope you don't mind if I join in.

Heads up...as in 'heads up the US operation'

Delivers...as in absolutely everything is delivered nowadays...no lesson is taught, no service is rendered...

Meets with, speak with, talk with...

Thanks...just had to get that off my chest.

Welcome, Gettingagrip! Funnily enough I saw a poster today with 'heads-up' i.e. 'I'll just give you a heads-up on this impending issue...' and felt my ire rising...

I agree on the 'withs' as well!

I loathe 'Absolutely'. What's wrong with 'Yes'?

I love 'Singing from the same hymnsheet' because I once sat next to a deaf old dear in church who didn't hear the minister say 'We'll miss out the second verse' and so was blissfully unaware that she was singing different words from everyone else, or why I was wetting myself with laughter next to her.

Oh yes, and 'Wow factor'.

"You know what I mean?"