English Language & Usage Asked by user407153 on March 8, 2021
There are some phrases that everybody knows, and are said in a humorous/mocking way like:
Or Russian have this phrase about their failed attempts of learning English, this being the only thing they remember:
Eddie Izzard in one of his comedy shows shares his French learning experiences, remembering this line. Google seems to agree that it is a popular phrase.
So is there a name of this type of common "knowledge" phrases that are so overused that they are somewhat funny, but not just called "memes"?
After a couple of weeks it has come to me that old chestnut may often meet your specification.
= a subject, idea, or joke that has been discussed or repeated so often that it is not funny any more
= A stale joke, story, or saying, as in Dad keeps on telling that old chestnut about how many psychiatrists it takes to change a light bulb. This expression comes from William Dimond's play, The Broken Sword (1816), in which one character keeps repeating the same stories, one of them about a cork tree, and is interrupted each time by another character who says “Chestnut, you mean . . . I have heard you tell the joke twenty-seven times and I am sure it was a chestnut.”
Answered by Anton on March 8, 2021
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