Over the top

Over the top' means excessive, exaggerated or beyond the norms, and derives from the military practice of going over the top of the trenches in WWI. On both sides of the Atlantic, the expression started to be used figuratively from about the 1930s for going too far or going beyond reasonable limits. Since the mid-20th century, the expression has completely lost its original wartime connotation, except of course when used specifically in an historical context. It is now generally used to describe any language or behaviour that is beyond accepted norms.