diff --git a/cmd/tickgit/commands/todos.go b/cmd/tickgit/commands/todos.go
index d9d749e..b9ae311 100644
--- a/cmd/tickgit/commands/todos.go
+++ b/cmd/tickgit/commands/todos.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 var csvOutput bool
+var startingMatchPhrases []string = []string{"TODO", "FIXME", "OPTIMIZE", "HACK", "XXX", "WTF", "LEGACY"}
 
 func init() {
 	todosCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&csvOutput, "csv-output", false, "specify whether or not output should be in CSV format")
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ var todosCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 		foundToDos := make(todos.ToDos, 0)
 		err = comments.SearchDir(dir, func(comment *comments.Comment) {
-			todo := todos.NewToDo(*comment)
+			todo := todos.NewToDo(*comment, startingMatchPhrases)
 			if todo != nil {
 				foundToDos = append(foundToDos, todo)
 				s.Suffix = fmt.Sprintf(" %d TODOs found", len(foundToDos))
diff --git a/pkg/todos/todos.go b/pkg/todos/todos.go
index 6921be9..1a66ba6 100644
--- a/pkg/todos/todos.go
+++ b/pkg/todos/todos.go
@@ -29,12 +29,10 @@ func (t *ToDo) TimeAgo() string {
 }
 
 // NewToDo produces a pointer to a ToDo from a comment
-func NewToDo(comment comments.Comment) *ToDo {
+func NewToDo(comment comments.Comment, matchPhrases []string) *ToDo {
 	// FIXME this should be configurable and probably NOT hardcoded here
-	// in fact, this list might be too expansive for a sensible default
-	startingMatchPhrases := []string{"TODO", "FIXME", "OPTIMIZE", "HACK", "XXX", "WTF", "LEGACY"}
-	var matchPhrases []string
-	for _, phrase := range startingMatchPhrases {
+	// in fact, this list might be too expansive for a sensible defaul
+	for _, phrase := range matchPhrases {
 		// populates matchPhrases with the contents of startingMatchPhrases plus the @+lowerCase version of each phrase
 		matchPhrases = append(matchPhrases, phrase, "@"+strings.ToLower(phrase))
 	}
@@ -55,10 +53,10 @@ func NewToDo(comment comments.Comment) *ToDo {
 }
 
 // NewToDos produces a list of ToDos from a list of comments
-func NewToDos(comments comments.Comments) ToDos {
+func NewToDos(comments comments.Comments, matchPhrases []string) ToDos {
 	todos := make(ToDos, 0)
 	for _, comment := range comments {
-		todo := NewToDo(*comment)
+		todo := NewToDo(*comment, matchPhrases)
 		if todo != nil {
 			todos = append(todos, todo)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/todos/todos_test.go b/pkg/todos/todos_test.go
index 8b71967..e2777d6 100644
--- a/pkg/todos/todos_test.go
+++ b/pkg/todos/todos_test.go
@@ -7,12 +7,14 @@ import (
 	"github.com/augmentable-dev/tickgit/pkg/comments"
 )
 
+var startingMatchPhrases []string = []string{"TODO", "FIXME", "OPTIMIZE", "HACK", "XXX", "WTF", "LEGACY"}
+
 func TestNewToDoNil(t *testing.T) {
 	collection := lege.NewCollection(lege.Location{}, lege.Location{}, lege.Boundary{}, "Hello World")
 	comment := comments.Comment{
 		Collection: *collection,
 	}
-	todo := NewToDo(comment)
+	todo := NewToDo(comment, startingMatchPhrases)
 
 	if todo != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("did not expect a TODO, got: %v", todo)
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ func TestNewToDo(t *testing.T) {
 	comment := comments.Comment{
 		Collection: *collection,
 	}
-	todo := NewToDo(comment)
+	todo := NewToDo(comment, startingMatchPhrases)
 
 	if todo == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected a TODO, got: %v", todo)