Clichés

Much of our everyday language is encumbered with uninventive, worn-out phrases and expressions that we gum together when we write and speak. Certain words and phrases simply pop up as we write, and if we are not careful we can find our writing overrun with clichés: expressions that have been repeated so often that they no longer have any force of freshness. Clichés, remarks one writing guru, are "expressions as predictable as a funeral sermon."

The careful writer must examine every word, measure every sentence, and choose language that best fits the thought. Clichés are seldom the best expressions. At one time, for example, phrases such as "bite the bullet" and "needle in a haystack" had force and vividness: they conjured up a picture. That picture has now faded, and these and a myriad other expressions—tired-out metaphors—have become dull and uninspired. A writer must always be on guard against uncritically choosing the familiar phrase over making the effort to find something new. If you've heard it before, likely so have your readers. You want to avoid like the plague using a phrase with such a history of overuse as avoid like the plague. The best cure for prose that is infected with clichés is to delete them and to state the idea in your own inspired and plain language.

It is not possible, however, to rid your prose completely of cliché phrases and expressions. In fact, occasional use of cliché phrases can relieve the reader when the subject matter is abstract or the ideas foreign. Used appropriately, a well-placed cliché phrase or expression can return writer and reader to homely common ground. Good writers will occasionally use clichés for this effect. A cliché such as brain drain or power struggle or slap in the face may be used because it is the most efficient way to convey a particular idea, image, or emotion. But clichés should be used sparingly and deliberately, as if you are telling an old joke that you assume the reader won't mind hearing again.

Attached is a list of clichés to avoid. Check this list when you come to edit your work. If you have used a phrase that appears on the list, or if you sense that you have written an avoidable cliché, you should devise another expression.

Clichés to Avoid