the same old story
the same old excuse

The same old story of most people who move here.

These were better than the rest, but still the same old story.

But what we get in the book is the same old story.

After all, often enough it is the same old story.

All along, he kept up the same old story as the rest of us.

When I get down here and see him, it's the same old story.

In every other department, though, it's the same old story.

Now that the military's done its job, it's the same old story.

For a while, it sounded like the same old story.

For residents in this city of about 100,000, it was the same old story.

But they are the same old stories with new twists.

It was the same old story that every cop knew.

It was the same old story, but with a twist this time.

"I left in 2007 and it was the same old story.

For the Connecticut women's basketball team, it was the same old story.

And number two, they're the same old stories you've heard all your life."

For those who claimed to have seen or heard it all before, racism was always the same old story.

It is the same old story every single year.

In fact, though, it's the same old story - all show and no substance.

It was the same old story and he didn't press her for more details.

It was the same old story all over again.

Trailing Frances around another industry party was the same old story.

He thinks "this is going to be the same old story.

It was the same old story: there were sixteen in the audience.

Maybe reporters just got tired of the same old story after a decade.

Well, I think the American people are tired of hearing the same old excuses.

After the rhetoric accompanying the van tragedy fades, I fear we will hear only the same old excuses or, worse, another long silence.

You still hear the same old excuses: there's nothing I can do; I'll wait until I get sick; the drugs are poison.

"I can't really say very much about the details, Dad," hearing himself giving the same old excuse he used with Odo: the war, you see- the war.

From day one, every time I asked you for information, all I ever got was the same old excuse that you're not authorized to discuss the investigation with me."

Plantation-owners trot up to Government House every day and since I'm only a soldier I can't do a dam' thing about it except listen to the same old story and make the same old excuses.

I became aggressive and reminded her I was working and it was part of my cover; she reminded me that I appeared to be enjoying it and that she was fed up hearing the same old excuses.

To the Editor: The Perspectives column on Oct. 20 about New York City's construction of a police station on East 67th Street [ "6-Year Construction Nears the End" ] accepts the same old excuses from the city for the delay in finishing this project.