Down With This Sort of Thing

I feel like banning something, so here are 10 more words and phrases never to be used again.

1. “The reason why”; “the reason is because”; “the simple reason being”. Thanks to TakeItOffTheBill and Sussex Oracle.
2. “Drill down.” (See illustration.) Gail Boserio.
3. “Unpack” to mean discuss at greater length. Gail Boserio.
4. To be “across” something.
5. “Enviable curves”; “leaves little to the imagination”* and “flaunt”. Suzanne Moore, who wants to ban Dailymailese.
6. “Confined to a wheelchair” and “wheelchair bound”. Pete Blanchard.
7. “Fascist”, to mean someone who holds an opinion with which one strongly disagrees. Simone Webb.
8. “Every dot and comma.”
9. “Helicopter view.” Socrates.
10. “The new normal.” Simon O’Hagan.

Some of these I may have listed before in recent additions to the Banned List, but they have all now been added to the Supplementary List since the publication of the book, still available for a bargain £5.62 in hardback or to download for £3.99 as an e-book.

*Leaving little to the imagination is, come to think of it, quite a good description of what the Daily Mail does: it prompts its readers on how to respond to its stories.

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