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A word to the wise about Clichés

All things considered, avoid clichés like the plague

We have all met people who have the extraordinary ability to talk in clichés:

Y’know, not to beat around the bush or hedge your bet, this chapter is a must-read because it calls a spade a spade and in a nutshell leaves no stone unturned to pull the rug from under those off-the-cuff, old-hat bête noires called clichés.

These are the people who’ve given the cliché its bad name. We all tend to use them, of course. Sometimes that familiar phrase is the neatest way of expressing yourself and most of us can, in a flash (cliché), unconsciously call up a few hundred of them to help us out in writing and conversation. But how aware are we of the irritation (or worse, sniggering) that the overuse of clichés can cause?

If you want to use clichés only when appropriate and, avoid them when not, it helps to be able to recognise them. Give yourself this quick test: how many of these tired and well-worn expressions can you complete with the missing word

COMPLETE THE CLICHÉ

1 a gift from the . . . .

2 light at the end of the . . . . . .

3 weighed in the . . . . . . . and found wanting

4 quantum . . . .

5 paper over the . . . . . .

6 fall between two . . . . . .

7 blot on the . . . . . . . . .

8 if you’ve got it, . . . . . .it

9 the . . . . . not worth the candle

10 it’s not over till the fat lady . . . . .

Answers. 1. gods; 2. tunnel; 3. balance; 4. leap; 5. cracks; 6. stools; 7. landscape; 8. flaunt; 9. game’s; 10. sings

Most clichés begin life as someone’s incredibly neat, timely or witty way of expressing or emphasising a thought. Because it is clever, a lot of people steal the phrase as their own. Multiply that by a few million and you have the desperately tired and overused husk of somebody’s originality.

Many clichés are centuries old. If we say of a jilted bride-to-be that she was left in the lurch we are echoing a comment made by the English poet Gabriel Harvey in 1576. Thirty years earlier saw another writer, John Heywood, recognise that he knew what side his bread’s buttered on (1546). Clichés date from the Bible and more are minted, waiting in the wings (cliché) for clichédom, every day. These days a cliché can be born, adopted and be worn out in a matter of mere months.

The grammarian Eric Partridge identified four kinds of cliché. There is the idiom that becomes so indiscriminately used that its original meaning becomes lost (to the manner born has become to the manor born because of the widespread belief that it means born to wealth and luxury, whereas it originally meant ‘following an established custom, or accustomed to a situation’ as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet 4:14). His second type includes phrases that have become so hackneyed that only the laziest writers and speakers ever use them (to nip in the bud; beyond the pale; down to the last detail).

Partridge’s third group consists of foreign phrases (terra firma; in flagrante delicto; plus ça change) while his fourth comprises snippets and quotations from literature (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing from Pope, and Shakespeare’s a thing of beauty is a joy for ever).

However we haven’t yet rounded up all the usual suspects (cliché). One serial offender (very modern cliché) is the ‘stock modifier’ – a Darby and Joan (cliché) combination of words that, often for no reason, are always seen together. A person isn’t moved; he or she is visibly moved; a person isn’t merely courteous, he or she is unfailingly courteous. These parasitic partners are really sly clichés and you should watch for them. To help you know these partners better, try matching these:

1	over-riding	A	consequences
2	woefully	B	apparent
3	far-reaching	C	inadequate
4	no-holds-barred	D	importance
5	increasingly	E	interview

Answers: 1D; 2C; 3A; 4E; 5B

If you make up your mind to watch out for clichés creeping into your speech and writing and to try to avoid them you’ll be surprised how easy it becomes to do without them – and how much fresher your writing becomes as a result.

Here are a few you might remove from your vocabulary:

An A to Z of Clichés to Avoid like the Plague

accidentally on purpose

accident waiting to happen

actions speak louder than words

act of contrition

acid test

add insult to injury

after due consideration

all intents and purposes

all in the same boat

all over bar the shouting

all things considered

almost too good to be true

angel of mercy

angry silence (classic Darby & Joan)

as a matter of fact

as luck would have it

as sure as eggs is/are eggs

at the end of the day

at this moment/point in time

auspicious occasion

avid reader

baby with the bathwater, don’t throw out the

backseat driver

back to basics/to the drawing board

bag and baggage

bag of tricks

ballpark figure

ball’s in your court, the

bang your head against a brick wall

barking up the wrong tree

bat an eyelid (try wink and surprise everyone)

batten down the hatches

beavering away

beer and skittles, it’s not all

before you can say Jack Robinson

beggars can’t be choosers

be good (and if you can’t be good, be careful!)

be that as it may

between a rock and a hard place

bite the bullet

blessing in disguise

blind leading the blind

blissful ignorance

blood out of a stone, it’s like trying to get

bloody but unbowed

blow hot and cold

blot on the landscape

blow the whistle

blue rinse brigade

blushing bride

bone of contention

borrowed time

bottom line

breath of fresh air

bright eyed and bushy tailed

brought to book

brownie points

bruising battle/encounter

bumper to bumper traffic jam

by the same token

call it a day

callow youth

calm before the storm

camp as a row of tents

can of worms

captive audience

card up his sleeve

cards stacked against us

cardinal sin

carte blanche

cast of thousands

Catch 22 situation

catalogue of errors/misery/disaster/misfortune

cat among the pigeons, put the

catholic tastes

caustic comment

cautious optimism

centre of the universe

chalk and cheese, as different as

champing at the bit

chapter and verse

chapter of accidents

cheek by jowl

cheque’s in the post, the

cheap and cheerful

cherished belief

chew the cud/fat

chop and change

chorus of approval/dispproval