A few weeks ago, in the midst of reading submissions, I started a mini-tweetfest of lines that should be eliminated from plays entirely. With a hashtag of #retirethisline, I sent out a bunch of tweets, and encouraged some others. Because Twitter is fast and furious and they were easy to miss, I thought I’d repeat them here, and encourage readers to join in both here and on Twitter; if I get enough, I’ll do a Part Two.
1. “What do you always say about…?” (uh-oh, we’re about to find out…)
2. “If you hurt my x, I’ll hurt you.”
3. “That’s exactly what I said, and I mean it.” (along with any line that ever comes before this)
4. “I said, ‘Get out!’
5. “You’re not listening!” (Cue the repeat.)
6. “Let’s keep this between you and I.” (Eyes and ears bleeding… aren’t we writers, after all?)
7. “Are you kidding me right now?” (Even without the right now.)
8. “You’re obviously upset.”
9. “What do you mean?”
10. “Remember when…” (“ugh, blood curdles every time,” says tweeter; mine too)
11. “What I’m trying to say is…”
12. “As if you didn’t know!”
13. “It’s been a long day” as an excuse for rudeness to strangers, odd behaviors, etc.
14. “I can’t take this anymore!”
15. “As you’ve never seen him/her before.”
16. “In a world where…”
17. “You’ve got to be joking” and the corollary
18. “I’m just messing with you.”
19. “It’s good to see you; it’s been too long.”
20. “That would have been awkward.”
21. “You are my favorite x.” “I’m your only x,” and all permutations thereof.
22. “Do I look that stupid to you?”
23. “You’re my x, and I love you.”
24. “I can do you one better,” and the one ALL theatergoers and purveyors of entertainment should axe asap:
25. “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.”
What are YOURS?
“Let me ask you this …”
“I’ll tell you what I mean …”
I know I’ve used some of these lines in my writing, so now it’s time for a “search-and-destroy” mission.
I’m not sure I’d want to live IN A WORLD where IN A WORLD isn’t IN A WORLD.
I want to live in a world where I have any idea what that means lol!
We need to talk. ( This appears more in TV and Movies.)
I’ve had to excise some of those from early drafts in my time.
How about “Then what happened?” or “What did you say?” but thankfully, those don’t come up too often.
As for “Let’s keep this between you and I.” are you saying that characters don’t make grammatical errors?
Oh, yes, characters DO make grammatical errors, but more often than not, given the character who’s talking, I suspect it’s the playwright making them. And it takes me right out.
The one that always makes me cringe is: “Why are acting like this?” I am always waiting for someone in the audience to shout, “Good question!”