‘What phrases would you permanently ban if you had the chance?’ – 23 people who absolutely don’t want to hear about your ‘holibobs’

Before social media turned up and ruined all our lives, it was much harder for particular phrases to travel around the country, or, indeed, the world.

So for everyone who sadly missed out on the West Country delightfully calling woodlice ‘chucky pigs’, there were a million more who would never have had to suffer through the pain of grown adults using the phrase ‘holibobs’.

And now it’s got so bad that there are expressions which people would love to never, ever hear again. Over on the AskUK subreddit user MixAway asked this:

What phrases or terminology make your skin crawl, and you’d happily banish if you had the chance? I have two that I really, really can’t stand…

“[Something] is cooked”. No idea where this came from but recently it’s everywhere and sooooo annoying. “The UK is cooked”. Errr, shut up please.

”Say it louder for the people in the back”. This makes me want to vomit.

Yep, both highly irritating. And people were queuing up to add their thoughts, like these…

1.

‘I was today years old.’
–Fingers_9

2.

‘“Hubby” always has me twitching for my flamethrower. I hate it with the intensity of a million suns.’
–GlamorganTestesWard

3.

‘Anything cheeky. A “cheeky pint”, a “cheeky curry” etc. Anyone who refers to the father of their child as “Baby Daddy”.’
–Agreeable_Guard_7229

4.

‘”If you know you know.” Smug pointless thing to say.’
–BikeProblemGuy

5.

‘‘It’s giving’’
–Super_Development150

6.

‘I’m sure in the Ballroom culture it was always “it’s giving something“. Not just “it’s giving” as a complete sentence. The former I love and use somewhat regularly. The latter I hate because it just feels lazy. I’m always left thinking “giving what?”‘
–Chris_Neon

7.

‘I heard “neurosparkly” the other day. I’m a woman with ADHD and autism and I fucking hated it. It made me want to crawl out of my own skin. Fuck sake man, infantilise us more!’
–leclercwitch

8.

‘The “we’re pregnant” one gets me. Just seems kinda of silly. I’ve got two kids; at no point did I or their mum feel the need to pretend that “we” were pregnant. She was pregnant. I was just what I am all the time.’
–hhfugrr3

9.

‘Anything adopted from America. People have started using “period” instead of “full stop”.’
–Due_Garlic_3190

10.

‘Some of the kids in the youth group I lead say “trash” and honestly I can’t deal with it. Now they say it to wind me up!’
–MistressMercury

11.

”Fur baby’ makes me want to puke.’
–TheeHappyDude

12.

‘”This gives me the ick.” Annoying, and frequently used in a way that’s stupid.’
–ByronsLastStand