Word.ws English Dictionary

computer says no

computer says no phrase: alluding to an attitude where decisions are based solely on the output of a computer system, apparently without using common sense and without any desire to help, especially in customer or public service.

Phrase

computer says no

  1. (humorous) Alluding to an attitude where decisions are based solely on the output of a computer system, apparently without using common sense and without any desire to help, especially in customer or public service.
    • The immigration minister has said she wants to change the “computer says no” culture of the Home Office, after being confronted with evidence that up to 1,000 highly skilled immigrants face being deported for minor errors on their tax forms.2018 May 8, Heather Stewart, “Immigration minister wants to end 'computer says no' culture at Home Office”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Forms of computer says no

alternative formthe computer says no

Origin of computer says no

From the British sketch comedy series Little Britain (2004), where it was the catchphrase of the character Carol Beer, a bank worker and later holiday rep and hospital receptionist, who dealt with customer enquiries by typing them into her computer and responding with computer says no.

Questions about computer says no

What does computer says no mean?
Computer says no means alluding to an attitude where decisions are based solely on the output of a computer system, apparently without using common sense and without any desire to help, especially in customer or public service.
What part of speech is computer says no?
Computer says no is a phrase.

Words near computer says no in the dictionary

  1. computer programmers
  2. computer programmes
  3. computer programming
  4. computer programmings
  5. computer programs
  6. computer says no
  7. computer science
  8. computer sciences
  9. computer scientist
  10. computer scientists
  11. computer security

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: computer says no (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-computer says no.wav.

Cite this entry: “computer says no.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/computer_says_no. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.