Favourite (i.e. most hated) cliches!

[MrsThierryHenry]

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Sorry about driving test, onebat. Driving instructors are a terrible scourge and driving is horrid. Well done for being proficient enough to take the test (I'm not yet) - I believe the rest is largely a matter of luck.

did you fail your test onebat? ach, bummer. it's luck, like the lady says.

Mrs T-H, 'low hanging fruit' as in a target that is easy to achieve, a quick win or similar. Isn't it awful?!

And Spidermama, 'You do the math' - at the end of the day I am basically loving this phase at the same time as hating it. It just screams American dude.

As a social experiment I introduced some of the phrases I haven't yet heard my manager use into conversations today, to see if he would rise to the bait, take the bullet etc etc

Imagine my delight/disgust when he actually used one of said expressions to me by the end of the afternoon! Without irony, I may add.

I have fuelled the fire further it seems...

"issues around"

horrible social-worker-ese can't offend anyone by saying it directly... eeeuuugggh

"what's your take on that?"

What's wrong with "opinion" or "assessment". It particularly annoys me when my mum says it for some reason.

Have we had "the interim report by Friday? Guys, that's one helluva a big ask."

I got 'guys' and 'helluva' in there too, see?

"work station" - no, it is a desk.

"Vintage pieces" = clothes from the charity shop

Message withdrawn

you can;t have your cake and eat it too.

Why not - whats teh point in having cake if you can;t eat it?

i've never understood that one either - what else would you do with cake?

"Work life balance"
"Summer wardrobe"
"Winter wardrobe"

CAPSULE wardrobe!

(for when you've been chosen as the 'hausfrau' one who gets a place on the space-shuttle? Who knows)

Undies.
Heels. As in: "I think I'll wear this new tarty dress with heels."
Slap. (for make-up)
Slap & tickle.
Slap up meal.
The whole works.

kit and kaboodle
if you pay peanuts you get monkeys

the full monty trans I am arse

"like, that ever happened"

anything which only works when said in a Carrie Bradshaw voice.

Angeldoll, I'm loving your social experiment with your boss!

Kew - I agree about the cake thing. My mother used to say 'you can't eat your cake and have it' - wrong way round but at least it made sense!

Onebat - can I add (though it's not a verbal cliche, it is in its own way a blanket cliche):

Anything done or said by SJP playing Carrie Bradshaw (sorry, am trying not to turn this into an I Hate SATC thread)

I hate "plum job"

career ladder
housing ladder
portfolio career
bar snack

full diary. I can't meet you on Friday for coffee as I have a very full diary. You are going to the dentist at 11 and can't make it.

Kew and MrsTH - the Cake thing is similar to "it's an ill wind that blows no good" in that the language is a bit of a PITA - the cake one is trying to say that you can't have your cake as well as eat it - you either have it to keep or you get to eat it.
The latter one - of course an ill wind is going to blow no good, that's what it does? But no, apparently it is a REALLY bad wind if it blows NO GOOD AT ALL to anyone.

Sorry if you already knew that..

It should really be you can't keep your cake and eat it. Although bullimics might disagree.

Swedes - you're so cynical (re full diary)!!

Actually, I like 'portfolio career' - it perfectly describes my ideal working life!

Thumb - I know already! That's why it made more sense the way my mother said it (if you've eaten your cake you can't have it back - unless, as Swede says, you vom it back up again...mmm...niiiice.)