A previous poster mentioned a list of common things by Nicky Haslam, here are some more by him (as you'll see, he's quite the charmer):
Most young royals. Trying to be dull and ordinary sadly seems to be working. Thank goodness for Harry.
Saying ‘bon appetit’. It’s so faux- continental and now Russians say it too. Marginally better than ‘enjoy!’. What’s wrong with ‘dig in’?
Organic food. It’s fetishy and elitist and largely a con.
‘Intensely private people’. It’s like that phrase you see in the newspapers, ‘they keep themselves to themselves’. Why? Are they just so boring? Only terrorists are ‘intensely private people’.
Morning sickness.
Talking about being ill.
Not owning up to ‘work’. Everyone can tell at a glance, darling.
Initials on the cuffs of shirts. I mean who are they for? Presumably the shirt wearer knows who he is and hopefully so does anyone else. Apparently you can even get iron-on initials now. Just grisly.
Bikini tops paired with skirts. Tackiest combination yet.
Stressing the ‘den’ in garden. It should be gard’n.
Ditto stressing ‘trait’ as in portrait. It’s ‘portritt’.
Going to the Maldives etc. for Christmas. Whole families flying off somewhere hot is dreadfully common. Christmas should be spent at home.
Pillowcases instead of stockings for Christmas. It’s just lame to big everything up. Worse, it’s spoiling.
Saying ‘Louis Vuitton’ when talking about that designer luggage. It’s just ‘Vuitton’.
Mouthing the words to a song when dancing. Looks ridiculous.
Living statues. Those imbeciles who stand stock still pretending to be a Roman god or the Tin Man. I mean, get a proper job!
Vodka and tonic. No, it’s gin and tonic, and vodka and soda.
Oxfordshire. Too many ‘chipp-ings’ on City-folks’ shoulders.
Harvey Nichols. It used to be Harrods for parvenus and ‘Essexelebrities’. Now they’ve moved on to its Knightsbridge neighbour.
New Mini Coopers. They took an iconic and beautifully designed car and spoiled it. Big where the original was small, fat where it was graceful, and brash where it was discreet.
Polo. We know blondes find muddy breeches sexy but who on earth understands the rules?
Not eating carbs. Trendy but trite — simply eat less.
Foodie restaurants. Nothing more common than people boasting that they’ve booked Noma in Copenhagen for three years’ time. Why go to anywhere to spend precious hours eating leek foam? Wolf down a soused herring and hurry to the treasures in Copenhagen’s palaces.
Personal trainers. Unless he’s your boyfriend.
Going to the gym. Keeping fit is common sense, but having to do it with a trainer is plain common.
Ibiza. Ghastly. Remember what Bobo, Duke of Roxburghe said of the War: ‘My dear, the noise... and the people’!
Bellinis. Now that white peaches are a dime a dozen they’ve lost their Venetian chic.
‘We have our own micro-climate’. Fatuous and stupid. Everywhere does.
Glass fruit in a bowl. What’s the point? And let’s not even start on the trend for polished wooden fruit, too.
Dress codes. As on party invitations. Very declasse. If you must put something, just write ‘smart’. Even better, put ‘long dress, black tie’.
‘Carriages at...’ on party invitations. Just put ‘8.30 to 12’ or whatever.
Gourmet canapes. Too twee. The only party food worth having is sausages.
Saying ‘a nonsense’. It’s ‘nonsense’, don’t add the indefinite article.
Confidence. It’s really terribly common to be confident.
Serving ‘sparkling or still’ in private houses. Either one or the other but not both. Better still a jug of tap water.
Cuff links and shirt studs. The Queen’s dressmaker Hardy Amies told me that they should only ever be worn with a starched evening shirt with cuffs too stiff to be buttoned.
Richard Branson. The king of smarm. When will he get that rocket off the ground?
Elaborate coffee. It should be black. Even having it with milk is common. Starbuck the habit.
Conservatories. They become just another children’s play room in no time.
Wearing airline pyjamas. I mean really. All those young businessmen who get on in New York and change into sleep suits for a five-hour flight. Yuk.
Dog walking. Have people really got nothing better to do than picking up dog mess? We all know about letting sleeping dogs lie.
Garrick club ties. Usually tied around a red neck under a red face. Dreadful. Far worse than the MCC tie.
Stumpy telescopic umbrellas. Ugly and unwieldy. Leave them behind on the bus.
Expensive bikes. Some now cost thousands and they’ve still only got two wheels and pedals.
Skiing in France. Courchevel, swarming with Russians, is the absolute pits. Say niet to la neige.
Speeches at weddings. The best man’s to embarrass and the bride’s father to praise are quite enough. Let alone the cringe-making speeches at office leaving parties.
Minding about smoking. It never happened when everyone smoked. Why now?
Farm shops. As in: ‘Let’s meet for a coffee at the farm shop.’ Like going to bingo.
Enormous bath towels. So swamping. It’s like draping yourself in a damp shroud.
Saying ‘uz’ for ‘us’. You don’t say buzz for bus. When, why did it start?
Knocking easyJet. It’s a bloody good airline.
‘My blood sugar is way down.’ One of those frightful phrases like ‘I’m wheat intolerant’ or ‘I can’t eat dairy’. The mark of a self-obsessive.
Art/design. There is just so much of it around that it’s simply become boring.
Miniature trees clipped into box shapes in window boxes. Too, too tasteful. Bring back trailing lobelia.
Flock/velvet coachwork Ferraris. Ludicrously customised cars doing the Harrods circuit for those rallies in August. Luckily, still not common in actual numbers.
‘Lord Of The Dance’. Terrible ‘happy-clappy church’ anthem being sung as a hymn, even at ‘the best’ services.
Different cheeses. Boards with little bits of every cheese. There should be just two: one hard, one soft. Any more denotes the host’s insecurity.
Long-running TV and theatre shows. There should be a retirement home for them. Have I Got News For You could join Downton Abbey. So could The Woman In Black, Phantom and The Lion King. Let alone The Mousetrap cluttering up theatres.
Box sets. Haven’t you got anything else to do at night?
Women whingeing about there being no middle-aged women on TV. They’re all middle-aged: Kirsty Wark, Mary Beard, Lucy Worsley, Natasha Kaplinsky, Fiona Bruce. Let’s have some pretty young announcers.
Not listening to Sorry I Haven't A Clue. It’s brilliant, the best thing on radio, especially now it’s got Jack Dee.
Talking to the lady on the sat-nav. It was funny when you first heard her.
Constantly updating your iPhone. Something only practised by bores.
Young comedians. They’re unfunny, puerile, mostly scatological and the epitome of common.
Saying ‘bye, bye’. That’s baby talk. Even broadcasters now say it at the end of the news. It’s goodbye, or bye. Equally bad, ‘a very good morning to you’. Stick to ‘good morning’.
Giving ladies menus without prices. Insultingly common. Surely they already know lobster costs more than pea soup.
Scottish accents. Sir John Betjeman said Scots had the only truly ugly accent in the world.
People who say ‘there you go’ when they mean ‘there you are’. Baby-talk again.
Cheering when a waiter drops things. It’s taken over from clapping when the plane lands.
Calling the Thursday at Ascot Ladies Day. It should be Gold Cup Day. Referring to Royal Ascot is pretty naff anyway, as it really is the ‘Spring Meeting’.
Tiramisu. People think it’s an exotic pudding but it’s just an Italian trifle with coffee extract.
James Bond. Gadgets are so old hat.
Frank Sinatra’s My Way. The most common tune in the world, second only to Ella Fitzgerald’s Summertime.
Jazz. It’s for nerds or oldies reliving their youth.
Checking your money at banks’ ATMs. What’s the point of it? What are you going to do if it’s wrong?
Those bird stickers on sliding glass doors or big windows to warn people that it’s glass. Let them bang their head, they’ll soon learn.
Saying ‘all the vegetables came from our garden’. Pretentious.