Celebrity Pet Peeves

They Might Be Giants dressed up as…penguins? snowmen? All I know is that these guys crack me up.

If you’re ever in a room with They Might Be Giants, one thing’s for sure, watch what you say! At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Kurt got the chance to talk to band members John Flansburgh, John Linnell, and Marty Beller about their hilarious list of phrases that “nobody in the band is allowed to say.” TMBG compares expressions like “jump the shark” and “phone tag” to old chewing gum — so overused that they have lost their flavor.

” ‘It is what it is.’ That has no meaning,” said Marty Beller in the interview. “That’s just a placeholder for language.”

The complete list went public when the band sent it out in their newsletter last May. Take a look at which “phrases from hell” TMBG have “voted off the island.”

These are all things we are not allowed to say within the band:
too much information
off the hook
that’s what (s)he said
my bad
game changer
crackberry
that’s how we roll
I can’t work under these conditions
playing the (whatever) card
throw under the bus
drinking the kool-aid
LOL
phone tag
don’t go there
it’s all good
it is what it is
talk to the hand
think outside the box
off the reservation
oh no you didn’t
I threw up a little in my mouth
one hundred and ten percent
IMHO
no worries*
jumped the shark
voted off the island
(anything) on acid
(anything) from hell
(anything) on steroids
literally (unless it’s actually used properly)
Of course the list itself is now on the list.
*No worries enjoys a unique “workplace dispensation” where it can be used with a co-worker to help decompress a work situation.

Click here to listen to the interview, or to leave a comment and share which phrases you think should be on the list!