you should excuse the expression

you should excuse the expression

Forgive me for using the word or phrase I have just said or am about to say. Often used in reference to crude or obscene language, or to puns, clichés, or turns of phrase, especially those that may come across as trite, tactless, or crude. The common explanation about the origin of the phrase "three sheets to the wind" is that it has to do with sailing, but I've always felt that this etymology doesn't, you should excuse the expression, hold water. For a documentary about the horrors of war, it comes across as rather—you should excuse the expression—lifeless. He was acting like, you should excuse the expression, a complete ass.
See also: excuse, expression, should
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

you should excuse the expression

Please forgive what I just said or am about to say. This polite disclaimer for uttering a profanity, obscenity, or vulgarity was adopted from Yiddish about 1930 and became common soon thereafter. See also pardon my French.
See also: excuse, expression, should
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in periodicals archive ?
Then they are, you should excuse the expression, fools.
The treason of the clerks: church leaders and Catholic educators are killing Catholic schools
But without developed characters and a plot, act two provides merely more of what we saw in act one, suggesting that the play is too long and that it was written by, you should excuse the expression, a committee.
Un-American
There was no getting around it: The story was, you should excuse the expression, "out there."
Slouching Toward Sanity
(For the record, none of my research was ever funded by Catholic schools, and I have never taught in Catholic schools save for an eighth-grade catechism class when I was a very young priest back in, you should excuse the expression, the "sleepy" 1950s.) I am unaware that anyone has found any major substantive or methodological errors in my work.
The so-called failure of Catholic schools
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