Yes, we all have heard them around in any normal business day dozens of times. Hey, Dave, no offence taken!
But the Oxford scholars took a step beyond and scanned books, magazines, broadcasts and other sources to compile a voluminous gargantuan database, containing more than two billion words, that's my definition for 'voluminous' if you ask me, called Oxford University Corpus plenty of overused, tiresome and irritating phrases.
A billboard of the top ten appears in a new book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, by Jeremy Butterfield. Here you are.
Come on, just admit your workmate or maybe yourself could honour most of the entries in less than one hour of normal speech. The chances raise dramatically when you speak on the phone and somehow you feel like flooding space and time with catch phrases.
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It’s a nightmare
8 - Shouldn’t of
9 - 24/7
10 - It’s not rocket science
But you probably have your own candidates to extend or replace this list...
You know, to be honest with you, I dunno, what d ya reckon... ?
