"It's a silly phrase," former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said.

The silly phrase ran in his mind.

Which her husband took pains to point out was a particularly "bloody silly English phrase for dessert.

That, she says, is "a silly French phrase" that means finding the right tone or happy medium for her way of life.

Somewhat more than those silly godamned phrases someone found on the back of a cereal box.

She was a professional woman, whatever that silly phrase meant.

But he hid his fears with smiles and all the glib, silly phrases people say when renewing contact.

Its top was scarred with carvings: initials, declarations of love, silly phrases, obscenities.

Oh, it all started with the silly phrase 'No smoke without fire.'

Wren had always thought "jaw-dropping surprise" was a silly phrase, until she felt her own jaw do it.