YMSTICPC is an initialism that grew from a phrase used in the BBC television series House of Cards about fictional political events in the Westminster House of Commons. Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is one of the largest broadcasting corporations in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of more than £4 billion. ... House of Cards was a political thriller novel written by Michael Dobbs, a former Chief of Staff at Conservative Party headquarters, which was set at the end of Margaret Thatchers tenure as British Prime Minister. ... FicTioNaL is a Gaming Legend. ... Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

It stands for "You Might Say That, I Couldn't Possibly Comment" and was regularly used by the protagonist, Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson), when he wanted to agree with a statement made to him but was 'politically unable' to agree or disagree publicly, with the emphasis on either the 'I' or the 'possibly' depending on the situation. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ian William Richardson CBE (April 7, 1934 – February 9, 2007) was a Scottish actor best known for playing the Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards trilogy for the BBC. // Richardson was born in Edinburgh and educated at Tynecastle High School in the city and trained at the...

As a phrase and acronym it has remained in use within the Westminster Bubble and in the media on occasions people do not want to commit to a clear 'yes' (or 'no'). The Westminster Bubble is a term used to describe UK MPs, lobbyists and the political media who appear to live their life isolated from the real life that goes on outside Parliament and is so named because Parliament is located in Westminster, London. ...

A variant of the line, also used by Urquhart in House of Cards, is "You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment." Another variant that occurs in House of Cards is "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly say that."

References

See also

• Non-denial denial
• No comment