Reminds me of an article I read on writing better English. One bullet point was “avoid cliches like the plague.”
Maybe this isn’t a clich, but a little phrase that always seems to show up in emails and blogs is “suppose to”. It makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth. By the way, has anyone here read “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” by Lynn Truss? Definitely the funniest book I’ve read in a long time.
“fall into the same rut” – 192 matches on Google
“at the end of the day” – 2,380,000 matches on Google
Just to be clear, I am not advocating removing all cliches and catchphrases. I am advocating using them judiciously.
This made me laugh, from the book “Eats, Shoots Leaves” referenced by Dave Markle
A self-professed “stickler,” Truss recommends that anyone putting an apostrophe in a possessive “its”-as in “the dog chewed it’s bone”-should be struck by lightning and chopped to bits.
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592400876
Different kind of problem, but funny nonetheless.
There are a million ways to communicate
how about exaggeration and hyperbole? any cliche in that?
you know i poke fun due to blog envy.
Some of these are just filler - “At the End of the Day” can be replaced with “Ultimately”. “At this point in time” (often heard in speeches) really means “now”. “First of all” means “firstly”, etc.
Just thought of another one. It seems that every dimestore Dijkstra on the web has written at least one article entitled: “[XXXX] Considered Harmful”. Ugh. Hate that one.
Once something becomes cliche is when it’s fun. I’d never use any of this in serious writing, but for some reason a few friends of mine and I get quite a kick inserting things like “QQ more” and “el oh el” into bored IM conversations at the office.
I’ve told myself a million times to stop exaggerating. And every time I do, a little part of me dies inside.*
- this one’s for you, Phil Haaaaaaaaaaaack.
“lets face it” and “you have to admit” are just ways to put the listener/ reader on the defensive as if they are not facing or admitting to something the other person has.
Best. post Evar. No, really. To tell you the truth, reading this made my eyes bleed. So you don’t like the cliche-y goodness? Um, whatever dude! If you don’t like them, then don’t go on teh internets, yo! What’s next? Perhaps you are going to tell us not to use acronyms like LOL or O RLY anymore? OMG! WTF! I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. I want those 2 minutes I of my life back! I’m looking at you, Mr. Cliche Opposing Mc Cliche Opposer person! For one, I heart cliches! Chiches FTW!
And… Um… IM IN UR BLOGZ POSTIN COMENTZ!
I have a friend who uses “at the end of the day”, “clearly” and “it’s not a train smash”.
As you might expect we regularly hear “… Clearly, at the end of the day it’s not a train smash”.
At the end of the day… it gets dark!
Good job I don’t blog any more. Reading through that list I started thinking ‘Heh, some of these are pretty cool’.
(prologue: why is the word orange always used?)
What’s the difference between a staple and a clich?
Since when are chat shortcuts clich?
~Dave
How about:
[Anything] 2.0
[technology] killer
- [x] 2. [y] 3. [z] 4, ? 5. Profit!
Google …[joke about it being beta]
I know someone who, when speaking, face to face, rarely gets through five sentences without throwing a cliche in there somewhere.
I’ve often commented on it, too, 'cause a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Yeah, he uses them in places they don’t belong.
As for net cliches, I think the newer shorthand terms that people are making up all the time are quite obnoxious. O RLY and such were funny for maybe a single hundred-page thread about O RLY, but nowhere else.
That I threw up a little bit in my mouth thing? Expect someone to say one day, [Negative experience]; IJTUALBIMM. Nobody likes to use proper english, or spelling, or grammar anymore.
Oh, and net-iquette is a net term I don’t like. Stop gluing words together, people. I’ve even used that one, too. So easy to use, it becomes obnoxious.
My top 4:
"confused restatement of your argument]. Huh?"
This makes me want to kill. Check and make sure you’re not the stupid one before you act like the other guy is stupid.
“Wiki[anything].” Ex. “Wikitastic!”
The irritatingly hip word contraction “blog”, has anyone mentioned that one yet?
Finally, in the English language at-large: “Literally [something figurative.]” STOP IT.
Talking completely in text-speak. “OMG (insert name here), tht HAWT BOI WAS LIKE THTH!!! BUT DIS B-ATCH LIK TRTM”.
Huh? I say that too often. That and “whatsit”. Oh well. There’s another one. I guess everything’s a cliche now. What this world coming to?
we all guilty one way or the other.of all responces and comments l read in this blog failed to get one without a cliche.it does not kill so why not just continue w wat we have started