present company excepted

English

Alternative forms

• present company excluded

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

present company excepted

1. (idiomatic) These negative remarks do not pertain to anyone who is currently listening to them (including the speaker).
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 54, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     Everybody it appears, the present company excepted, has plotted against Mrs Snagsby’s peace.

   • 1920 March – 1921 February, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 26, in Indiscretions of Archie, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, publishers […], published 1921, →OCLC:

     "I say, Reggie, old thing—present company excepted—have there been any loonies in your family?"

   • 1995 October 2, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, “The Way of the Warrior”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 1, spoken by Quark:

     Am I glad we finally got rid of all those Klingons—er, present company excepted, of course.

   • 2009 December 2, Romesh Ratnesar, Bill Saporito, “How Will Tiger Woods' Apology Affect His Image?”, in Time‎^[1]:

     Well, even Stanford guys aren't perfect (present company excepted, of course).

See also

• no offense

References

• “present company excepted”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.