What is the worst cliché of them all?
For me, it's "emotional rollercoaster" (edit: I hate it because it is overused and fucking lazy)

As QOTWats, we experience a lot. Tell me your most hated expression.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 10:59, 57 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

"meteoric rise"
They fall.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:00, Reply)

They do as well
I'd never thought about that one before
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:01, Reply)

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
I mean, what the fuck?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:01, Reply)

That one at least makes sense though
It's better to have one bird than the chance of getting two, because you might end up with none.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:03, Reply)

But I don't want any birds.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:05, Reply)

In that case
chuck away the bird in your hands. Simple!
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:23, Reply)

Should I put it in the bush?
This is all very confusing.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:35, Reply)

Rub it on the bush
Yeah, like that. Mmmm... faster... ...
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:39, Reply)

Not a cliche, but "I personally believe"
I SHOULD HOPE SO BECAUSE IT'S YOU SAYING IT!
(Slip Digby is a meat puppet, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:05, Reply)

I was taught to 'think'
rather than 'believe'. But yes, you're right about the whole 'personally' thing. It adds a crutch pause rather than a meaningful extension of the sentence.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:23, Reply)

Anyone on QOTW who types:
"I have some really good stories for this. I'll write more later."
Don't bother. I hate you already. Don't tell us how really good your stories are going to be as they'll inevitably be shit. Do you actually think people are going to wait in front of the screen like it's the next volume of Harry Potter? I hate Harry Potter too.

And anyone who unironically finishes with "good times".
Good times.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:08, Reply)

Bad times.

(Slip Digby is a meat puppet, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:09, Reply)

Sunshine
Moonlight
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:11, Reply)

Entirely this.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:11, Reply)

'At the end of the day'
Makes me want to staple people in my office to death when I hear them say it over the phone!
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:09, Reply)

David Beckham is a serial offender
of this and many others.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:24, Reply)

You're right
Its a very footballer thing to say 'yeah well at the end of the day we went out and had to give 110%' *rage increasing*
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:27, Reply)

Well, you know...
er...
you know...
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:28, Reply)

Whenever someone says that
I butt in and say, "It gets dark"
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:57, Reply)

All business/management speak is bollocks and really gets on my tits
Especially using nouns as verbs, e.g. 'to leverage'.

Also such other hackneyed shite as:

Thinking outside the box
Belief programme
Core activities

and gross misuse and overuse of words like 'focus', 'key' and player.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:10, Reply)

My fucking boss insists on writing e-mails without putting your/her full name in
So it'll be:

M,

Can you send me that report?

T

Fuck off and right my fucking name you cunt
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:16, Reply)

I know someone
who abbreviates 'regards' to 'rgds' at the end of e-mails!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:18, Reply)

I don't know who that person is
But I already want to stab them with a gardening fork
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 14:11, Reply)

I recently learned where the expression 'thinking outside the box' comes from
Do you want to know?
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:25, Reply)

Is it
cunts?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:28, Reply)

Hahaha
Nice one :)
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:30, Reply)

Can we 'touch base',
and 'thanks for your buy in'.
Translation: I am a fucking idiot who has no idea what I'm saying but wants to look important.
( Sunburn Go on.... It's character building!, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:32, Reply)

This.
See also "bottom out". What, you want to take me into a meeting room and touch my arse?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 12:08, Reply)

Yes actually
would that be inappropriate?
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 12:59, Reply)

My old mans daughter just got dumped with the
"it's not you, it's me" cliche.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:13, Reply)

If anyone ever says that to me, I'll bite them.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:14, Reply)

I said that once
I didn't mean to. It slipped out. By text.
It wasn't arrogance. It was ineptitude.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:18, Reply)

We found out
earlier this week, that the "it's me" part was "it's me banging another chick".......fun week!
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:19, Reply)

People ending their QOTW entry with "Good times...."
*edit* Oh CCB also put that.... How slow of me..

Also, a few of my mates, while drunk, were discussing the "best line of a song ever".

Someone cited The Verve "I'm not a praying man but tonight I'm on my knees". I mean, Bittersweet Symphony is a good song and all that, but the whole "on my knees" thing is such a god-awful cliché that I'm sick of picking up on in songs.

I would say "Rant Over." but that is fairly clichéd as well...
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:15, Reply)

It's not as bad a cliche as
"keep on keeping on".

Every fucking band in the world who can't think of a decent lyric seem to fall back on this at some point. It's meaningless shite.
( le brian, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 12:12, Reply)

Ah yes, good point. A similar over-used lyrics:
There's nothing left to say.. or some variant of it. Despicable meaningless pap that fortunately ends on a word that can be rhymed with a shitload of stuff. Pah.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 13:02, Reply)

I get over this
by assuming that they're not on their knees to pray, but to fellate the next person to stand in front of them.
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 14:14, Reply)

I love you,
but I am not in love with you.
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:20, Reply)

this is to be translated as
"I'm dumping you, and I'm praying to God almighty that you cease to exist as soon as you are out of my sight."
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:22, Reply)

I translate it as
I got together with you to fuck you, but if I didn't love you that would be a bit wrong. So I "love" you but I'd rather fuck someone else now.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:23, Reply)

This also

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:26, Reply)

Haha, that is cracking
In fact scratch everything - anything that has ever appeared on Friends has to be stopped.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:22, Reply)

Was it really on friends?
Bugger!
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:26, Reply)

lol no sorry I don't actually know
But it certainly reminds me of some kind of Friends quote. Anything on Friends is pretty disgusting though...
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:49, Reply)

hhahaha
My colleagues recoil violently when I tell them that I have NEVER watched a whole episode of Friends.
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:54, Reply)

Time you got some new colleagues
Friends is a steaming pile of shite. You're not missing anything.
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 14:13, Reply)

If that's how you feel
but you don't want to use that cliché, what would you say instead?
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:29, Reply)

I say
"I think we want different things."
or
"If you think about it, I'm not really what you want am I?" (This makes them feel like they're dumping YOU.)
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:31, Reply)

It was aimed at you...
edit: or I would say 'look, just fuck off, and take your conjoined twin with you'.
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:34, Reply)

Well in that case, I am in love with you
but I do NOT love you

Take THAT
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:40, Reply)

;-(
I thought off topic was a happy place...
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:42, Reply)

There's something a bit sinister
about an unhappy, winking emoticon.

This place is a sphincter of deep unhappiness. It just has a veneer of fluff loosely binding it together.
( chart cat has an itch, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:49, Reply)

I have a lazy eye.
It portrays me perfectly...
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:51, Reply)

I just saw it as an emo fringe
( Tedium Alduce me to interlow myself., Fri 18 Sep 2009, 12:29, Reply)

Holdonaminute
Are you dissing Lori and Dori Reba?
You're out of order.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 11:42, Reply)

Translation
"you're really getting on my tits lately, in fact being the same post-code as you puts my teeth on edge. However, if you were to pack your bags and fuck off, I would cry myself to sleep every night for a very long time."

I don't like my left knee because it aches like hell, but I wouldn't want to be without it.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 22:03, Reply)

"And so he was, like..."
No.

What you mean to say is,
"So he said..."

"Like" is not a word which can be substituted ad hoc because you're too fucking lazy to think of the right verb to use. Like.
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 18 Sep 2009, 14:16, Reply)