The phrase "a bit savage" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that is slightly harsh, brutal, or unrefined, often in a humorous or playful context.
Example: "Her comment about his outfit was a bit savage, but everyone laughed."
Alternatives: "a little harsh" or "somewhat brutal".
But when he gets down to the brass tacks of his punditry style, it is this: "Where would we all be without a bit of banter?" Savage revels in being football's "Mr Marmite" and uses the phrase a lot.
"No! It'd be flattering if I did but I think my features are a little bit more savage".
If this theme of "noble savage" seems a bit passé, know that you are in good hands with Ciro Guerra.
"I was on a gap year after school, doing a bit of acting, with Dominic Savage (on Freefall), and little things with the National Youth Theatre, and I saw on its website a notice saying, 'Would you like to write an internet drama?' I entered something I'd written with no idea it was to do with EastEnders".
"I fear this is a bit of distraction tactic... from the savage cutbacks to hospitals and schools".
The intermingling of these elements has generated a conflict every bit as savage as the recent war in the former Yugoslavia, one graphically described by an author who witnessed some of the historic events that he describes and has met many of those with roles in them.
Then I plaster my hair down into Bertie Wooster's savage side parting: it's a bit of a wrestling match.
Mr. Savage has always been regarded as a bit of a maverick, if not a loose cannon, in both Republican and talk-radio circles.
The night when the trouble with our neighbours started is a bit hazy because I was in the grips of a savage hangover.
But there was a wizarding chemistry between these two actors, and, briefly, we were transported to 1983, before he died and she went a bit tootsie, and when disco was also in need of a savage wash of brine.
