Why Do We Use Cliches and How Can We Avoid Them?

[photon]

"Cliche?" You ask, well, I hate the little suckers. One of the worst is "Let's not and say we did." EVERYBODY says that! Why? It's noooo good whatsoever and just turns people geeky.

Personally, I avoid cliches like the plague...

Know any more annoying ones.

 

[Gokul43201]

"It's like deja vu all over again !"

Not only is this cliche annoying, the second clause is redundant. But every other movie I've watched has this line in it.

 

[jimmy p]

How about "at the end of the day". NO IT WONT BE LIKE THE END OF THE DAY!

 

[check]

I really hate "24/7". That has got to be the worst.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Isn't it cliche to hate cliches?

Now that we have that under our belts we pick ourselves up by our bootstraps, keep a stiff upper lip, put on our poker faces, quit beating around the bush, face the facts, and then hope against hope that the race is not to the swift, recognize that this is not a marriage made in heaven - after all the proof of the pudding is in the eating - and that good bad or indifferent, all that one needs is a kick in the butt. After all, the early bird gets the worm so if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. QED.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

and nobody should ever say "dude" again.

Dudess is still Okay for the ladies though.

Edit: Oh yes, and never do the finger thingy when quoting verbally.

 

[plover]

Edit: Oh yes, and never do the finger thingy when quoting verbally.

Can we do it while "quoting" "in writing"? Or is that just making a silk purse out of a pig in a poke?

 

[Euphoriet]

I would take 'dude' over 'd00der' or 'd00dz0rd' any day, dude.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Boy, I seem to have hit the dude nerve, dudes. What is this a dude club or something, dudes? Now I'm doing double dudey.

 

[motai]

If someone asks you what a cliche is, just respond "its a trite"

The opposite works just as well.

 

[Monique]

You could also say it's hackneyed

I hate those stupid wordplays that get repeated over and over, year after year.. can't think of any in english.. like pounding the potatoes, you call out for someone to do the pounding.. and then they loudly pound their foot on the floor and continue with whatever they were doing

 

[Njorl]

"It's like deja vu all over again !"

Not only is this cliche annoying, the second clause is redundant. But every other movie I've watched has this line in it.

That is more than a cliche, it is a "Berra-ism". Named for Yogi Berra.

Njorl

 

[Njorl]

I like botched cliches, like, "It sticks in my throat like a craw." or "For all intensive purposes".
Njorl

 

[Hurkyl]

You could also say it's hackneyed

I hate those stupid wordplays that get repeated over and over, year after year.. can't think of any in english.. like pounding the potatoes, you call out for someone to do the pounding.. and then they loudly pound their foot on the floor and continue with whatever they were doing

Well, someone has to put their foot down...


Actually, I don't understand this one at all.

 

[Monique]

Well, someone has to put their foot down...


Actually, I don't understand this one at all.

language barriers...

Dutch cuisine involves lots of recipes of vegetables with mashed potatoes.. so a strong guy has to be brought into the kitchen to do the pounding, so when we'd call out for my dad to do so, we'd just hear a lot of noise but he'd never show up in the kitchen


Oh, my family is a star at triteness just to annoy me I'm sure..

 

[Monique]

O wait, or did you think mashed potatoes come out of paper boxes?

 

[Gokul43201]

According to Bob Seger, "Is it a woman, or a man?" is an old cliche. I tend to disagree...'cause that would make every commonplace statement/question a cliche. In fact I'd bet my bottom dollar...

 

[gnome]

Originally posted by Monique:
Dutch cuisine involves lots of recipes of vegetables with mashed potatoes.. so a strong guy has to be brought into the kitchen to do the pounding...

Don't you cook 'em first?

 

[Hurkyl]

O wait, or did you think mashed potatoes come out of paper boxes?

I just didn't know you "pound" them.

 

[Monique]

Don't you cook 'em first?

you first COOK them??
*mumble* maybe that's.. ajuh.. good point..

Hurkyl: that's ok, that's one person who won't start pounding the floor or nearby walls when asked to mash the potatoes

 

[Hurkyl]

Well, I will now.

 

[Monique]

ay... *crumbles up diner invitation*

 

[Hurkyl]

You can still invite me, just make sure I come after dinner's ready.

 

[jimmy p]

All in all, we must use our strengths against our opponents weaknesses to overcome the boundaries.

 

[plover]

I like botched cliches, like, "It sticks in my throat like a craw." or "For all intensive purposes".
Njorl

I'm not sure "For all intents and purposes" counts as a cliche. (Though I'm a monkey's uncle if I can figure out why...)

For a long time as a kid, I thought that the word 'mishapen' was pronounced as 'miss-happen' - after all, it referred to something that had suffered a mishap...

Anyway, this is all as weird as a snake's suspenders.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

For some reason there is an entire subculture within the US that de-thaws meat before cooking; not thaw the meat like everyone else, de-thaw. Some people from the St. Louis area [like some of my family] tend to use this expression. When I hear this and ask when they thaw the meat, they usually look a little confused and say something like, "same thing", or, "oh ya". Then they say it again the next time. Considering the large population of Germans from the area, I have always suspected it may be a German dielect remnant of some kind.

In college, my German language professor would say "now that we have that behind our belts", instead of "under our belts". Fourty years in the US but this little idiom had escaped his attention.

 

[Monique]

de-thaws meat before cooking [..] I have always suspected it may be a German dielect remnant of some kind.

lol, I think you're right the proper translation probably should be be-thaw :) the act of thawing.

 

[plover]

lol, I think you're right the proper translation probably should be be-thaw :) the act of thawing.

And of course it should have Anglo-Saxon style tenses:

I bethaw, I bethew, I was bethewn

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

Could we say that something is slicker than deer guts on a doorknob, or would that be wrong.

 

[BobG]

"Give it 110%".

That's not only a bad cliche, it's bad math. Besides, there are better options.

Here's a little math that might prove helpful.

What makes 100%?

If

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then,

K N O W L E D G E
11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96%

H A R D W O R K
8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98%


But,

A T T I T U D E
1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100%

So you, see? Attitude is much more important than knowledge or hard work.


And,

B U L L S H I T

2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%

So, it stands to reason that hardwork and knowledge will get you close, attitude will get you there, but bull**** will put you over the top.



But, look how far A S S K I S S I N G will take you

1 19 19 11 9 19 19 9 14 7 = 118%