Tuesday 2 June 2009

Since records began and other dumb phrases

It's the "driest/wettest/coldest/windiest day" SINCE records began.
Was there no weather before the records?
I think this is becoming one of the most overused phrases in the language today, along with..."for the record" and "at the end of the day"
Jeez, can't people say something original!
The one of those that annoys me most is "at the end of the day"...that ain't what they mean 99.99999999% of the time, so WHY say it? I know, it was first used....mainly by footballers, but has been picked up by no-brainers, who think it is a good way to sum things up. most of the time the phrase has no bearing on the subject being discussed.

4 comments:

Ambermoggie, a fragrant soul said...

One that annoys me is for my sins. When people are asked who they support, or what they like etc they say "for my sins--"
Where did that come from?

Sea said...

and why don't they share what they have sinned about :D ?

Blue said...

The phrase that drives me around the twist 100 times is 'back in the day'. What happened to saying, 'When I was young'?

Michael Gradwell said...

I like the phrase "since records began" because I have lived twenty years in East Lancashire, and whenever you hear about rainfall records you have to thank Richard Towneley from Burnley. So Burnley is famous for football and rainfall measurements. There was rainfall before Towneley but nobody had thought of measuring it before him.

A phrase I don't like - "to be honest". Is everyone normally lying?