The Saddest Phrases In the English Language

The Saddest Phrases In the English Language

We're from the Internal Revenue Service

"We're from the Internal Revenue Service . . ." is generally preceded by a knock on the door and is spoken by one or more men in dark suits and even darker sunglasses. (Think: Men In Black.) After having time to process this phrase, cue a queasy feeling in your stomach. The government usually plays for keeps.

Back to school

Back to school are three words that most kids loathe. (Yet, this may have to also appear on our Happiest Words list because it's a phrase all parents love.) While there’s no hard data to support that this is one of the saddest phrases in the English language, we bet that if you randomly polled a group of kids and asked them if they’d rather be hanging out at the swimming pool with their friends or waiting at the cold bus stop at seven in the morning, it’s a pretty safe to guess they’ll pick the pool.