Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Serial_Apologist]

Hence Boots the chemist...

You still hear people talking about "the working man", don't you? As in "That Jeremy Corbyn: he'll never appeal to the working man in this country"; or "the working man and his family".

[ahinton]

You still hear people talking about "the working man", don't you? As in "That Jeremy Corbyn: he'll never appeal to the working man in this country"; or "the working man and his family".

Just as one still hears some people talking about "the working class", by which it so obviously means that they are not referring to everyone who works just because they do so; Phil the Greek once apparently said that his wife is working class "because she works". QED.

As to "the working man and his family", that's surely about as much of a valueless euphemism as the once much-vaunted "hard working families"?, n'est-ce pas?!...

[ahinton]

Pharmacy?? Pharmacy???? Now, when I were a lad, chemists was good enough for the working man...

Yes, and just as misleading as when people talk about "doing the math" when they're referring to just one branch of mathematics - the one commonly known as "arithmetic".

That said, one might wonder whether it was not "good enough" for the unemployed man or the working or non-working woman...

[Serial_Apologist]

Just as one still hears some people talking about "the working class", by which it so obviously means that they are not referring to everyone who works just because they do so; Phil the Greek once apparently said that his wife is working class "because she works". QED.

As to "the working man and his family", that's surely about as much of a valueless euphemism as the once much-vaunted "hard working families"?, n'est-ce pas?!...

You're clearly behind the times, ahinton: the working class was declared re-instated following several decades in ideologically enforced purdah - for rhetorical purposes - during the recent general election, when such as Nigel Farage and Dominic Raab cited the working class as the part of society too long neglected by politics.

[pastoralguy]

I can pinpoint the moment when I knew I had to leave the NHS. My line manager was trying to get staff enthused about some new policy that meant even less patient contact(*) time and used the immortal phrase 'blue sky thinking!'

(*) Another phrase I hate. Why not being with the patient?

[ahinton]

You're clearly behind the times, ahinton:

I would never read that or any other Murdoch rag!

the working class was declared re-instated following several decades in ideologically enforced purdah - for rhetorical purposes - during the recent general election, when such as Nigel Farage and Dominic Raab cited the working class as the part of society too long neglected by politics.

Indeed - which rather proves my point about the term's irrelevance (other than as a descriptor for anyone who regularly works), methinks!

[StephenMcK]

Who is today's 'man on the omnibus'? Or should I say '... on the Clapham omnibus ...'

Is it 'white van man'?

[LMcD]

I wasn't sure which was the most appropriate thread for this, as the item in question didn't actually set my teeth on edge. Anyway ... a reporter on BBC Breakfast informed us that smart motorway cameras 'don't operate continuously all of the time'.

[cloughie]

Whis is today's 'man on the omnibus'? Or should I say '... on the Clapham omnibus ...'

Is it 'white van man'?

No in 2020 it would have to be ‘white van person’.

[cloughie]

I wasn't sure which was the most appropriate thread for this, as the item in question didn't actually set my teeth on edge. Anyway ... a reporter on BBC Breakfast informed us that the smart camera motorways 'don't operate continuously all of the time'.

Choose your own redundant words!

[LMcD]

Sorry, I got things the wrong way round in #5381 - now corrected! (Redundancy choice unaffected!)

[oddoneout]

No in 2020 it would have to be ‘white van person’.

Or just 'white van driver'. Many years ago my daughter discovered that it's very easy to adopt the style once at the wheel of said vehicle, on a trip moving brother and belongings back to uni and collecting family items from elsewhere; she had a great time, he less so.

[LezLee]

We don't have Clapham omnibuses up here, we've always referred to 'the man in the street'.

[Count Boso]

One phrase I seized on enthusiastically after I heard it four or five years ago is 'on an industrial scale'. It has now passed into the category of tired cliche and I think the less of those who employ it for using such a tired cliche.

[Serial_Apologist]

Choose your own redundant words!

I had thought LMcD was more outraged by the VERY EXISTENCE of "smart motorways", so (ignominiously) called!