According to a new poll out today, an astonishing 87% of the Great British public are fed up with BBC commentators and interviewees repeatedly using the word ‘phenomenal’ during coverage of the Olympics.
Gary Lineker (no relation) from Essex is typical: “It’s ‘phenomenal’ this and ‘phenomenal’ that every f*****g five minutes. Give it a f*****g rest, it’s doing my f*****g head in. I despair of the British education system if ‘phenomenal’ is the only superlative we can come up with.”
To help the BBC and its guests (and to try to preserve Mr Linker’s sanity), the Plain English Society has compiled a starter list of alternative words for ‘phenomenal’: consummate, excellent, exceptional, extraordinary, fantastic, magnificent, marvellous, matchless, miraculous, outstanding, peerless, prodigious, remarkable, sensational, stellar, superlative, supreme, unparalleled, unrivalled, unsurpassed, wondrous.
The BBC described these findings as “phenomenal”.
