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Clichés - Bloggercises

Dark corners of the language: clichés

February 1st 2010 05:17

We have in the past advised novice writers against using clichés. There no known excuse to use a cliché, we said. There is no imaginable circumstance in the occupied universe, we advised, that can justify using a cliché.

Well, we got that wrong.

John Croucher has just published a book full of clichés, and every one of them is justified.

Croucher is a professor at Australia’s Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and his book is more about the business world than grammar. The book’s dedication is to ``all those suckers who believe everything people tell them''.

However, Bloggercises got attentive on behalf of writers and anyone interested in language when Croucher asserted that clichés often exist today because they are used as a way to disguise meaning. To put it plainly, Croucher says clichés often mean the opposite of what they look like they mean.

Sound crazy? We thought so too. So here are some examples, and after reading them it is apparent that Croucher has cleverly identified something here.

Cliché: Are you making a fashion statement?
Real meaning: You look ridiculous.

Cliché: Our company is containing costs.
Real meaning: Our company is maximising management salaries and bonuses and minimising the wages of everyone else.

Cliché: You deserve better than me.
Real meaning: I want better than you.

Cliché: Our company is seeking a self-starter.
Real meaning: In this role, nobody is going to help you whatsoever.

Cliché: This is a challenging role.
Real meaning: Everyone is going to hate you.

Cliché: This property is a golden opportunity.
Real meaning: This property is a golden opportunity for the agent to make a commission.

Croucher says the reverse cliché phenomenon is a result of a competitive world. They are, he says, “a form of modern punishment”.

``I watch a lot of TV and read a lot of papers and, being in management school, I get a lot of management speak paradigm shifts and synergies: tools for punishing people,'' he said.

``But because this is a dog-eat-dog world, because we need to get that competitive edge, we lie more. A lot of people look good on paper, because people tell us what we want to hear. People lie all the time, and others believe them because they want to.”

In other words, clichés are corporate or self-promoting double-speak, and most of us fall for it.

Caveat emptor.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: A writer's tool kit, Clichés, Language, Writing

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Out, damn'd cliché 4

February 26th 2009 04:59

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Orwell's edict, a fundamental rule of good writing, is about clichés. The word is taken from the French word for stereotype. In English, we use it to denote words, phrases or ideas which have been overused to the point where they lose their force.

To say something should be avoided like the plague would have been clever, amusing and memorable back whenever that expression was fresh. With overuse, it has become dull.

Use of clichés is lazy communication. In text, they denote an impoverished writer. They are a sin, and every time you use one the ghost of George Orwell writes your name in a large black book.

What follows is a writing exercise. The five sentences below contain clichés. Identify the infected area, spray with a mixture of one part red ink and three parts editorial zeal, and rewrite with words kissed by freshness.

Today's theme will test your mettle. Post your efforts as a comment so we can all see how you did. For each good effort, George's ghost will remove one mention of your name in that black book.

Are you a man or a mouse?

Will you do it, or will you chicken out?

This is not for the faint-hearted.

Do you have the courage of your convictions?

It will separate the men from the boys.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Clichés

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Out, damn'd cliché 3

January 28th 2009 20:11

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Orwell's edict, a fundamental rule of good writing, is about clichés. The word is taken from the French word for stereotype. In English, we use it to denote words, phrases or ideas which have been overused to the point where they lose their force.

To say something should be avoided like the plague would have been clever, amusing and memorable back whenever that expression was fresh. With overuse, it has become dull.

Use of clichés is lazy communication. In text, they denote an impoverished writer. They are a sin, and every time you use one the ghost of George Orwell writes your name in a large black book.

What follows is a writing exercise. The five sentences below contain clichés. Identify the infected area, spray with a mixture of one part red ink and three parts editorial zeal, and rewrite with words kissed by freshness.

Post your efforts as a comment so we can all see how you did. For each good effort, George's ghost will remove one mention of your name in that black book.

I took her to visit my old stomping ground.

I answered the phone and my blood ran cold.

He has been on thin ice for years.

We’ve worked night and day and still haven’t finished.

If you don’t believe me, wait and see.

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Clichés

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Out, damn'd cliché 2

December 22nd 2008 11:28

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Orwell's edict, a fundamental rule of good writing, is about clichés. The word is taken from the French word for stereotype. In English, we use it to denote words, phrases or ideas which have been overused to the point where they lose their force.

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