London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Sep 08, 2026

No disrespect but... Susie Dent shares words public want axed

No disrespect but... Susie Dent shares words public want axed

No disrespect, but - going forward - it would be advisable not to start sentences with the word "So".

That is according to responses to a tongue-in-cheek tweet from Countdown wordsmith and lexicographer Susie Dent.

The language expert asked her 1.1 million Twitter followers which words and phrases they would like to see "banished" from the dictionary.

Topping the list was "Going forward" - another way of saying "in the future", and often used in a business context.

Other common expressions the public said they most take umbrage at include: "No disrespect, but", "like" as a filler word, "I wanted to reach out", and "I'm not gonna lie".

Dent posted what she described as an "unscientific analysis" of people's "excellent" responses.

She tweeted: "Happily, English is a democracy so it's up to us.

"And many of these are old beefs: 'like' as a filler was first used in 1778."


The top 10 are:


1. Going forward

2. No disrespect, but…

3. 'Like' as a filler

4. I wanted to reach out

5. I'm not gonna lie

6. Basically

7. Let's go offline

8. 'So' at the start of a sentence

9. The 'optics' of something

10. My bad

Dent tells BBC News many words or phrases people find incredibly annoying now "have actually been around for a very long time".

For example, the first reference in the Oxford English Dictionary to the word "gonna" was in 1806.

Taking a "deep dive" and "it is what it is" are two phrases she finds irritating.

She says the more people repeat common phrases, the more they lose their substance and impact because they no longer feel original, and the speaker is "jumping into a universal shorthand".

But she says some jargon can be "incredibly uniting" as it gives a sense of belonging.

"It's when it slips into the trite and the throw-away that I think it becomes annoying, and it's when so many people pick it up that there doesn't seem to be too much thought behind it," she says.

Her post, which has been retweeted more than 1,000 times, drew the attention of the actor and presenter Les Dennis, who simply replied "for my sins".

And the actor Hugh Bonneville responded with a suggestion of his own: "At this point, at this point."

Shakespeare was criticised by some contemporaries unhappy about his choice of language


Dent will often choose and share a word of the day on Twitter. Alongside Gyles Brandreth she co-presents a podcast, Something Rhymes with Purple, where the duo explore the "hidden origins of language".

She is also touring the country with her show: The Secret Lives of Words.

She continues: "Even Shakespeare was massively criticised by his contemporaries; they accused Keats of turning nouns into verbs.

"We've always had this sort of begrudging take on how English is evolving, but actually, I think the fact that we care about it so much means that it's in pretty good hands… or mouths."

Language is "infectious", she says, and people will need to make a concerted effort to be more creative if they want to break the habit of using stock phrases they find irritating.

She adds: "Of course, we can't banish anything from the dictionary because dictionaries are famously descriptive.

"We don't prescribe how language should be used. We describe how it is used.

"So really the only people that can get rid of these phrases that we find annoying is us.

"And we have to stop using them before they will become reduced currency, but it's probably going to take a while looking at some of these."

Michael Rundell, a linguist and lexicographer - now mostly retired - has been a dictionary editor since 1980.

He says number nine in the list shared by Dent - 'No disrespect, but…' - is a signal "that you're about to give an entirely disrespectful trashing of what your interlocutor just said, so I reckon it's pretty useful".

And he says he has "never understood" the objection to the word "basically".

"If you were to ask me for a word to ban it would be 'woke', originally a very positive concept… but now completely appropriated by the hard right, and used repeatedly as a general-purpose insult by people who don't really know what they mean."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
British Chambers of Commerce Forecasts UK Growth of 1% as Investment Remains Weak
UK Suspends Local Government Reorganisation Decisions and Cancels Planned Shadow Authority Polls
UK Parliament Opens Inquiry Into Gaps in Climate Change Preparedness
Andy Burnham and Xi Jinping Hold Talks on Trade, Security and British Consular Cases
UK Joins France, Canada and Other Nations in Measures Against Israeli West Bank Settlements
UK Announces New Sanctions Targeting Iranian Nuclear and Military Networks
British Chambers of Commerce Calls for Business Rate Reform and Productivity Support
UK Farmers Warn Dry Summer Could Reduce Crop Yields and Push Up Food Prices
UK Rail Networks Hit by Widespread Delays After Major Signalling Failures
Matt Clifford Resigns as ARIA Chair After Conflict-of-Interest Scrutiny
UK and France Say Joint Border Operations Have Prevented More Than 48,000 Irregular Channel Crossings
UK Core Inflation Remains Above Expectations as Utility and Commodity Costs Stay Elevated
Jaguar Land Rover Considers Up to 4,000 UK Job Cuts Amid Automotive Industry Pressure
UK Government Pauses Local Authority Reorganisation for Legal Review
UK Public Borrowing Reaches £1.8 Billion in July, Adding Pressure Before Autumn Budget
Chancellor John Healey Puts Regional Devolution and Fiscal Discipline at Heart of UK Growth Plan
Counter-Terrorism Police Lead Salford Investigation After Two Teenagers Charged
UK Rejects Financial Reparations for Transatlantic Slavery
UK and Egypt Step Up Diplomacy Over Escalating West Bank Tensions
UK Pauses Council Reorganisation Across Four English Counties
Jaguar Land Rover Plans 4,000 Job Cuts in Major UK Restructuring
UK Unveils Planning and Regulatory Overhaul to Speed Infrastructure and Economic Growth
University of Bristol Opens £500 Million Innovation Campus
Families Give Evidence to Independent Review of Sussex Maternity Failures
Sweden Confirms Deportation of 458 British Citizens Over Post-Brexit Residency Rules
UK Launches £3 Million Challenge for Long-Duration Energy Storage
Reform UK Proposes £100 Billion in Spending Cuts and Brownfield Deregulation
Andy Burnham Warns Macron That EU Procurement Rules Could Hurt British Steel
Andy Burnham Faces Major Decision on Future North Sea Oil and Gas Drilling
SEND Support in England Projected to Reach One in 10 Pupils
England’s Housing Courts Struggle With Surge in No-Fault Eviction Cases
Violent Clashes Erupt in Portsmouth During Protest Against Asylum Processing
Three-Quarters of NHS Emergency Staff Report Regular Violence or Aggression
UK Considers Converting Female Prison Space for Male Inmates as Overcrowding Worsens
UK House Prices Record First Annual Decline in Nearly Three Years
UK Government Reassesses Policy Toward Israel Amid Calls for Diplomatic Shift
Reform UK Faces Police Scrutiny Over Alleged Foreign Donations Scheme
University of Bristol Opens £500 Million Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus
Online Bookmakers Accused of Privacy Breaches Through Cookie Consent Practices
Health Campaigners Urge UK Government to Abandon U.S. Pharmaceutical Agreement
Three-Quarters of UK A&E Staff Report Regular Violence or Aggression
Far-Right Demonstrations Target Portsmouth as Small-Boat Crossings Fuel Tensions
UK Records Hottest Summer on Record After Severe Heatwaves
UK Travellers Face Renewed EU Border Delays as Temporary Flexibility Ends
UK Rejects Calls to Pause AI Data Centre Expansion Despite Energy Concerns
UK Defence Figures Push for 3% Spending Target Amid Falklands Concerns
England Faces Rising Financial Pressure as Special Educational Needs Plans Surge
Metropolitan Police Consider Reform UK Probe Over Overseas Donations
Keir Starmer to Leave Parliament, Triggering By-Election
UK Treasury Weighs Windfall Taxes on Banks and Oil Companies Amid Bond Market Turmoil
×