same old same old

See also: same-old, same-old; same-old same-old; same old, same old; and same old-same old

English

Alternative forms

• same old, same old; same-old, same-old; same-old same-old; same old-same old; same ol' same ol'; same ol', same ol'; same-ol' same-ol'; same ol'-same ol'

Noun

same old same old (uncountable)

1. A familiar, uninteresting, or tedious situation, activity, narrative, or set of facts.
   • 1970, George Cain, Blueschild Baby, McGraw-Hill, page 22:

     "Yeah you were a kid last time I saw you. Heard you'd got flagged. What you doing now?"
     "Same old, same old," I reply.

   • 1990 November 3, Jennifer Orsi, “Incumbents”, in St. Petersburg Times, retrieved 7 Jan. 2010, page 4A:

     "People get so tired of hearing promises, promises and promises, and then when they get elected it's the same old, same old," Browning said.

   • 2007 November 21, Richard Schickel, “I'm Not There: Deconstructing Dylan”, in Time:

     Most basically, this is the same old-same old — visionary artist struggles successfully to realize his particular vision, gets famous, gets laid, gets in trouble with the whole celebrity thing, tries to escape the demands of his exigent fans . . . ends up sort of beloved, sort of intact, but sort of unfulfilled, too.

   • 2011 June 8, Mark Liberman, “Speech-based lie detection in Russia”, in Language Log:

     Pending future revelations, I'm going to assume that the present is like the past, and that this is more of the same old same-old.

   • 2024 January 24, Dyan Perry talks to Nick Brodrick, “The industry has given me so much”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 42:

     But it does make a cultural difference - and you need pioneers like Robin who recognise the benefit of doing that rather than perpetuating the same-old-same-old.

Synonyms

• same old story
• same old thing

Translations

Translations

• Dutch: hetzelfde liedje n
• Polish: stara bieda f