Platitudes

[Guest]

No, not that strange egg-laying furry mammal that haunts the east coast of Australia ─ that’s a duck-billed Platypus.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard even more platitudes than usual spouted by the politicians of all parties and I, for one, cringe whenever someone says to me “Well, it’s no use crying over spilt milk” or “All’s well that ends well, so long as you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Well, “there’s one born every minute” ─ platitudes , I mean, so since “what goes round, comes round” let’s have some of your pet hates and see what sort of a list we can produce.

There’s many a slip ‘twixr cup and lip, so please check your quotations for spelling and accuracy.

Remember, “it takes two to make a quarrel” and with the absence of much in the way of performances, “there’s no time like the present”

Ventilhorn

[Nick Armstrong]

No, not that strange egg-laying furry mammal that haunts the east coast of Australia ─ that’s a duck-billed Platypus.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard even more platitudes than usual spouted by the politicians of all parties and I, for one, cringe whenever someone says to me “Well, it’s no use crying over spilt milk” or “All’s well that ends well, so long as you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Well, “there’s one born every minute” ─ platitudes , I mean, so since “what goes round, comes round” let’s have some of your pet hates and see what sort of a list we can produce.

There’s many a slip ‘twixr cup and lip, so please check your quotations for spelling and accuracy.

Remember, “it takes two to make a quarrel” and “there’s no time like the present”

Ventilhorn

Was the " 'twixr " reference deliberately ironic?

One of the platitudes I shrink from most is the shortest - the studied way in which the leaders can't talk about the country or anything related to it without employing a cloying and inclusive first person plural: "our country"... "our people..." etc etc. It seems unexceptionable on paper, but in the mouths of Messrs Cameron, Miliband, Clegg, etc al. it makes me cringe, because it seems to me so transparently to come from Ten Top Tips for Speakers

[Curalach]

The inability of politicians, mainly but not exclusively of the left, to use the word "families" without prefixing it with "hard working".

[Lateralthinking1]

Cloud cuckoo land. He would say that, wouldn't he. Trickle down economics. We are all in this together.

That's a bit rich coming from... Modest saving. Calm down dear. 64 million dollar question. Openness.

It is all very well... When the Opposition were in power... Managing the country's finances. Consult.

Stakeholders. Localism. All decent people. It's no good saying... Right to work in old age. Modernization.

Fairness for all. Jewel in the crown. Independent review. Czar. There will be winners and losers. Expert.

Look. We all do stupid things when we are young. Nothing is ruled in or out. At this stage. Plain wrong.

Fit for purpose. I am reminded of... Right for the 21st century. With all due respect. Drive forward.

I'm sorry that she feels like that because... I sometimes wonder what planet he is coming from. Sensible.

Press. Nudge. Push. Tough. Hard. Fight. Hammering. Done in. Got a kicking. Slaughtered. Murdered. Kill.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just about all bull's eyes there, Lat.

I was sure I was going to read in that list one of my bugbears which occurred to me today when I heard it:

"going forward(s)" as in "the plan we're going to implement going forwards"

In what other direction do you propose to implement it???!? I am always tempted to grumble, except it's rarely appropriate to air one's semantic grievances in the earnest contexts in which such superfluous nonsense is usually uttered.

[Mahlerei]

Ruling in or out doesn't make any sense, surely? Ruling something out means crossing it through, so how does one rule something in? Underline it perhaps?

[Serial_Apologist]

Cloud cuckoo land. He would say that, wouldn't he. Trickle down economics. We are all in this together.

That's a bit rich coming from... Modest saving. Calm down dear. 64 million dollar question. Openness.

It is all very well... When the Opposition were in power... Managing the country's finances. Consult.

Stakeholders. Localism. All decent people. It's no good saying... Right to work in old age. Modernization.

Fairness for all. Jewel in the crown. Independent review. Czar. There will be winners and losers. Expert.

Look. We all do stupid things when we are young. Nothing is ruled in or out. At this stage. Plain wrong.

Fit for purpose. I am reminded of... Right for the 21st century. With all due respect. Drive forward.

I'm sorry that she feels like that because... I sometimes wonder what planet he is coming from. Sensible.

Press. Nudge. Push. Tough. Hard. Fight. Hammering. Done in. Got a kicking. Slaughtered. Murdered. Kill.

With freedom comes responsibility. Britain is a Christian country. Time to move on. Closure. Moving forward. Blue sky thinking. Thinking outside the box. The squeezed middle. We have no plans to... The mess left by the last government. Liberal. Review. Radical. The rebels. Democracy. Revolutionary. All options are open. Compromise. The national interest. Minority interests. Sustainable. Brownfield sites. Economical. Economical with the truth. Well past its sell-by date. Postmodern. Post-feminist. Alternative. Timesaving. Gizmo. Free range. Organised rain.

[Mandryka]

It's not rocket science. First base. Ball park.

These all originated in the USA: they should have stayed there.

One that hasn't travelled is 'We're not in Kansas any more', to denote when the tectonic plates have shifted (and there we go again).

[Flosshilde]

The inability of politicians, mainly but not exclusively of the left, to use the word "families" without prefixing it with "hard working".

My impression is that it's mainly politicians on the right who use that. They certainly talk about 'benefits scroungers'.

[PatrickOD]

The reality is that the vulnerable bear the brunt while the fat cats gather round the trough... and you can take that to the bank.
You must be joking!
I kid you not.

[Curalach]

My impression is that it's mainly politicians on the right who use that. They certainly talk about 'benefits scroungers'.

My comment was based on hearing Ed Balls use the expression 6 times in one brief interview, but I'm sure the rest are just as bad!
Like Caliban, I detest "going forward"! Whatever is wrong with "in future"?

[Curalach]

. . . . and another thing. It's not just politicians, but why does everyone from shop assistants to delivery men/women say "See you later"?

[Russ]

Neutrinos say "See ya sooner"!

Russ

[PatrickOD]

. . . . and another thing. It's not just politicians, but why does everyone from shop assistants to delivery men/women say "See you later"?

'See you later' was common when I was a child. The childish response was 'Not if I see you first'.

I think it's now just 'Later'.

[mangerton]

Vision - as in "our vision". In golf, shot instead of stroke. Train station. Freight trains instead of goods. Trucks.

Has anyone heard of a community which is not close-knit?

The overuse of "obviously". If it's so obvious, why tell us?

Beloved of weather forecasters: "through the" instead of "during the". Even worse, "as we head through the" instead of "during the".