Top 10 phrases from 2020 which we ALL want to forget

‘Social distancing’, ‘rule of six’ and ‘the new normal’ are just some of the top phrases from 2020 which Brits want to resign to the history books, research has revealed.

A survey of 2,000 UK adults examined the things they would like to lock up and leave behind in 2020. More than a third (36 per cent) want Donald Trump vanquished along with Dominic Cummings (31 per cent) and Matt Hancock (23 per cent), according to Hotels.com.

And 16 per cent of respondents would like to see the back of Boris Johnson’s 5pm briefings.

But while the politicians have been widely criticised, it’s the constant use of new phrases which has offended the public the most. Joining the outgoing US president in the accommodation provider’s ‘Hotel Room 101’ will be the sayings ‘social distancing’ (59 per cent), ‘rule of six’ (51 per cent), ‘tiers’ (50 per cent) and the classic ‘new normal’ (49 per cent).

The word ‘bubble’, once used to describe something light-hearted and airy, is something nearly half (43 per cent) of Brits are desperate to leave behind in 2020, never to be heard again.

More than a quarter (28 per cent) are fed up with people who don’t wear their masks properly, while 14 per cent are keen to leave stockpilers in the past.

Hotels.com carried out the research to launch its ‘Hotel Room 101’ competition – asking the public to tweet them the things from 2020 they would put into the room, with 10 winners able to win a Reward night worth £101 each.

Says Emma Tagg, senior global brand communications manager at Hotels.com Brand:

“2020 has been nothing like expected and there is no shortage of things we would all like to lock up in Hotel Room 101 and throw away the key.

“We wanted to give Brits the chance to ‘virtually’ leave behind the most annoying bits of 2020 and get rewarded while doing it.

“Let’s celebrate making it to the end of the year and to hopefully never hearing the phrase ‘next slide please’ ever again.”

It also emerged that when looking ahead to 2021, when travel returns and restrictions ease, Brits don’t want to travel too far from home, with 43 per cent opting for a European extravaganza of a trip.

And almost half (47 per cent) of those surveyed by OnePoll for Hotels.com said the thing they are most looking forward to in 2021 is a holiday.

The competition will run in the UK on 15.12.2020 between 10am-6pm on the UK Twitter thread at @hotelsdotcomuk

TOP 10 PHRASES FROM 2020 PEOPLE NO LONGER WANT TO HEAR