Of puns and other copy miscreants

A lot of copywriters hate puns. The poor pun has been getting picked on left, right and centre since the new school of advertising arrived in the 1970s. Still, the pun is not my most hated entity in the world of advertising copy. I do enjoy a good bad pun; the ones that make your toes curl they are so bad never fail to please me. They’re like a guilty pleasure I indulge in when no-one’s looking. I know they’re bad but I can’t help myself.

However, there are some words and phrases that genuinely irritate me when I see them…