Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[subcontrabass]

Is it?

'Father Christmas' can be traced right back to St Nicholas who was the 'real deal'.

Two quite separate figures until they got confused around 1870: http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/xmas/pages/english.htm

[Flosshilde]

Obligated

[Serial_Apologist]

Obligated

Yes indeed - for quite a number of years now I've come to think of this word as referring to people who live in gated communities and who must carry unspecified responsibilities.

What on earth was wrong with obliged?

[vinteuil]

Obligated

... but essential in Portuguese!

http://www.passagensimperdiveis.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Muito-Obrigado-Curtir-Facebook.jpg

[Padraig]

Listen-up people! I find that there expression hugely annoying.
There you have it.

[teamsaint]

We are/ I am passionately committed to......

[Beef Oven!]

What on earth was wrong with obliged?

Much.

[teamsaint]

Much.

[ahinton]

"Strictly come dancing".

Apart from any other considerations (of which there must be many), it's about as much of a sentence as "every little helps".

[cloughie]

"Strictly come dancing".

Apart from any other considerations (of which there must be many), it's about as much of a sentence as "every little helps".

Or 'Hard working people'

Oh and while I think on, punctuation-wise, when should ' ' be used and when " " or is it a matter of personal choice?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Or 'Hard working people'

Oh and while I think on, punctuation-wise, when should ' ' be used and when " " or is it a matter of personal choice?

Personal choice, cloughie - but if you want anything published by Cambridge University Press, the House Rules require ' ... '

[Pabmusic]

Further to 'the man in the Clapham omnibus', I'd always thought that this phrase had originated in the Lady Chatterly trial...

You are probably thinking of this, from prosecuting counsel (Mervyn Griffith-Jones QC): "...is it a book that you would even wish your wife or your servants to read.” We can take some comfort from the fact that people immediately recognised it as a gaffe (it was 1960, after all).

[teamsaint]

Personal choice, cloughie - but if you want anything published by Cambridge University Press, the House Rules require ' ... '

I prefer the double.

What CUP 'require' sounds like inverted snobbery.

[Pabmusic]

Personal choice, cloughie - but if you want anything published by Cambridge University Press, the House Rules require ' ... '

Without the constraint of a house style, I use " for quotations* and direct speech, and ' for quotes within quotes and for 'tentative' or 'so-called' usages.

* Though, if it's a long quote, it's probably better as an indented paragraph with no inverted commas.

[Serial_Apologist]

I prefer the double.

What CUP 'require' sounds like inverted snobbery.

No, inverted commas.