Clichés past their sell-by date

Modern day expressions.

‘Shall we unpack that problem’ ?

‘They were having a brainstorming session’ . I was recommended not to use the word brainstorming as it had bad connotations for people with conditions such as epilepsy. Fair enough.

This is not a cliche, but not to assume everyone has a Christian name, it should be first name, unless of course they are Christian.

I have never liked "pleased as punch"! I assume it is linked to Punch and Judy, and Punch was a vile, violent puppet!!

There used to be so much unhappiness around the topic of sex before marriage and it’s repercussions ... glad to see sex in (my opinion) where it belongs ...relatively open and available to couples as and when they choose...
old fashioned nonsense about blame is now of no interest ...
we got married very young to go to bed together... terrified I’d get pregnant and not be married... no pill then ...
It happened to last ... but that was sheer chance and perseverance ...
we spent our 20s looking after our twins , born 18 months later...
then the pill became available...
I think that one thing /event has transformed women’s lives ...
certainly taken away that gut aching worry whether your period would come or not...
in many ways we live in a much more open and sensible time...
except of course brexit!!!

Sarah I agree my FiL is not my responsibility but when he uses phrases he knows we find offensive and embarrassing, I think he should be aware and it is my job to make him aware.
Racial and class stereotypes are his speciality but he also talks about fat, ugly women.
And he's no oil painting!!

You used to be asked 'Are you courting?' Never hear it now.

Grammaretto I think your FIL is of such an age that many inhibitions have gone, you won't change him my lovely mum used to say all sorts of things that I wouldn't want to or dream of saying today. The racial stuff was very difficult as her GC found it offensive and it was difficult to explain she had grown up in the 1920's when people had different ideas, commenting on other people and their appearance embarrassing at the very least.

okimherenow
Quote 'Glad to see sex where it belongs open and available'etc etc.
I can hardly believe that through out the centuries there was never an option ie should we or shouldn't we sleep together before marriage more down to choice or as in some cases 'what will the neighbours think' if the result is a pregnancy prior to marriage.

Followers are not encouraged.
I was not Victorian parlour maid but worked in a cake shop in the 70s and my fiancee was waiting across the road for me to finish work in 5 minutes when the manager told me off with this gem. I was expected to tell him to wait around the corner !

My mother used to say that there should be at least two years between babies or it meant the man 'couldn't control himself'! I made quite sure my two were no more than eighteen months apart.

janeainsworth Past its sell-by date is indeed a tiresome cliché and I apologise for my laziness. My objection to "she got herself pregnant" is that it is invariably used in judgement and the she in question is invariably at fault, according to whoever is using this outdated expression.

I agree with you absent. I think there is still that double standard regarding the behaviour of men and women although it often manifests itself in different ways.

I like to thing things have changed but when I hear of male university students singing the most vile songs about women and handing out leaflets describing them as "mingers”, “trollops” and “slags”, I wonder if they have.

I think it's worse Eloethan - or more overt anyway.

Past its sell-by date is indeed a tiresome cliché and I apologise for my laziness.
Oh, I thought you were being ironic absent!

"There was a smell of cordite in the church."

She's "in a condition". At least the German equivalent "guten Umstands" sounds a bit positive.

My Mum had a dreadful expression I didn't realise the meaning of until I was a teenager: if I had done something to avoid expense, she would rub her nose and say"they haven't all gone back then" which I later realised was a derogatory comments about Jews. A friend's father used to say " they should all go back to nig-nog land whenever he saw a black person.
I really don't mean to cause offence to anyone on here by quoting these, but it is the sort of expression and thinking which we don't need, though thankfully I hope less heard nowadays.

What will the neighbours say............ said my mother.

Jalima1108 I didn't notice the irony until after I posted. However, I wasn't objecting to clichés, however irritating they may be, but to the implied judgment.

I was always told to keep both legs in one stocking ?

My cousin, back in the 1960s, became pregnant by her long time fiance. Even though a wedding had already been planned long before her pregnancy was announced, my mother with more than a hint of smugness announced that she would "either have to get married or live over the brush like a gypsy". The couple were married, a bit sooner than originally planned, and more than 50 years later, are still together.

Some of those old fashioned idioms are, quite rightly, in bin where they belong.

Can I still be regarded as living in sin after 40 years.
Not much sin going on at the moment

petra
or

We "had to get married", but according to my MIL, my BIL and his wife didn`t, but only "more by good luck than good management"! We lasted just over 53 years, by the way.

Best contraception is holding a 6 penny piece between your knees !

How about "sell-by date"?

I never understood why, if an unmarried girl was pregnant she was "no better than she ought to be", yet the boy was "a bit of a lad".