London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Mar 02, 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
Violent Pro-Iranian Protesters Storm U.S. Consulate in Karachi
Missile Debris Sparks Fires at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port Near Palm Jumeirah
Iran Strikes U.S. Fifth Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain Amid Wider Gulf Retaliation
When the State Replaces the Parent: How Gender Policy Is Redefining Custody and Coercion
Bill Clinton Denies Knowing Woman in Hot Tub Photo During Closed-Door Epstein Deposition
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton Testifies on Ties to Jeffrey Epstein Before Congressional Oversight Committee
Dyson Reaches Settlement in Landmark UK Forced Labour Case
Barclays and Jefferies Shares Fall After UK Mortgage Lender Collapse Rekindles Credit Market Concerns
Play Exploring Donald Trump’s Rise to Power by ‘Lehman Trilogy’ Author to Premiere in the UK
Man Arrested After Churchill Statue Defaced in Central London
Keir Starmer Faces Political Setback as Labour Finishes Third in High-Profile By-Election
UK Assisted Dying Bill Set to Fall Short in Parliament as Regional Initiatives Gain Ground
UK Defence Ministry Clarifies Position After Reports of Imminent Helicopter Contract
Independent Left-Wing Plumber Secures Shock Victory as Greens Surge in UK By-Election
Reform UK Refers Alleged ‘Family Voting’ Incidents in By-Election to Police
United Kingdom Temporarily Withdraws Embassy Staff from Iran Amid Heightened Regional Tensions
UK Government Reaches Framework Agreement on Release of Mandelson Vetting Files
UK Police Contracts With Israeli Surveillance Firms Spark Debate Over Ethics and Oversight
United Airlines Passenger Hears Cockpit Conversations After Accessing In-Flight Audio Channel
Spain to Conduct Border Checks on Gibraltar Arrivals Under New Post-Brexit Framework
Engie Shares Jump After $14 Billion Agreement to Acquire UK Power Grid Assets
BNP Paribas Overtakes Goldman Sachs in UK Investment Banking League Tables
Geothermal Project to Power Ten Thousand Homes Marks UK Renewable Energy Milestone
UK Visa Grants Drop Nineteen Percent in 2025 as Migration Controls Tighten
Barclays and Jefferies Among Banks Exposed to Collapse of UK Mortgage Lender MFS
UK Asylum Applications Edge Down in 2025 Despite Rise in Small Boat Crossings
Jefferies Reports Significant Exposure After Collapse of UK Lender MFS
FTSE 100 Reaches Fresh Record Highs as Major Share Buybacks and Earnings Lift London Stocks
So, what's happened is, I think, government policy, not just under Labour, but under the Conservatives as well, has driven a lot of small landlords out of business.
Larry Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary, is resigning from Harvard University as fallout continues over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, with the Dow gaining about six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 adding eight-tenths of a percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing roughly one-and-a-quarter percent.
From fears of AI-fuelled unemployment to Big Tech's record investment, this is AI Weekly.
Apple just dropped iOS 26.4.
US Lawmakers Seek Briefing from UK Over Reported Encryption Order Directed at Apple
UK Business Secretary Calls on EU to Remove Trade Barriers Hindering Growth
Legal Pathways for Removing Prince Andrew from Britain’s Line of Succession Examined
PM Netanyahu welcome India PM Narendra Modi to Israel
Shadow Diplomacy: How Harry and Meghan’s Jordan Trip Undermines the Monarchy
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United, comments on immigration in the UK.
Bill Gates, the UN and the WEF are attempting to construct "a giant digital gulag for all of humanity" via digital ID, CBDCs and vaccine passport infrastructure.
Britain’s Channel Crisis: Paying Billions While the Boats Keep Coming
Downing Street’s Veteran Deception Scandal
UK HealthCare Expands ‘Food as Health’ Initiative Statewide to Tackle Chronic Illness in Kentucky
Leonardo Chief Says UK Set to Decide on New Medium Helicopter Programme
UK Slows Chagos Islands Agreement After Concerns Raised in Washington
European and UK Stock Markets Reach Fresh Highs as Banks and Miners Lead Rally
UK Government Insists Chagos Islands Negotiations Continue After Minister’s ‘Pause’ Remark
No Confirmed Deal for Engie to Acquire UK Power Networks Amid Market Speculation
UK Reaffirms Updated Entry Requirements for Travellers as of February 25, 2026
General Atlantic to sell equity stake in ByteDance, valuing the company at $550 billion
×