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 section 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?
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:
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:
- 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
- chosen few
- circumstances beyond our control
- cold light of day, in the
- cold water on, pour
- come home to roost
- comes to the crunch, when it
- common or garden
- compulsive viewing/reading
- conspicious by his/her absence
- cool as a cucumber
- cool, calm and collected
- copious notes (and, if made by a reporter, usually scribbled notes)
- crack of dawn
- crazy like a fox
- crème de la crème
- crisis of confidence
- cross that bridge when we come to it, we’ll
- cry over spilt milk
- current climate, in the
- cut a long story short, to
- cut and dried
- cut any ice, it doesn’t/won’t
- cutting edge
- damn with faint praise
- Darby and Joan
- darkest hour is just before dawn
- dark secret
- day in, day out
- dead as a dodo
- dead in the water
- deadly accurate
- dead of night, in the
- dead to the world
- deafening silence
- deaf to entreaties
- death’s door, at
- death warmed up, like
- depths of depravity
- desert a sinking ship
- despite misgivings
- devour every word (and then there are none left to hang on to)
- dicing with death
- dim and distant past, in the
- dog eat dog
- donkey’s years ago, it was
- don’t call us, we’ll call you
- don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched
- doom and gloom merchants
- dot the i’s and cross the t’s
- drop of a hat, at the
- dry as a bone
- dyed in the wool
- each and everyone
- eager beaver
- eagerly devour
- ear to the ground
- easier said than done
- eat humble pie
- eat your heart out
- economical with the truth
- empty nest, empty nesters, empty nest syndrome
- enfant terrible
- eternal regret/ eternal shame, to my
- every dog has his day
- every man jack of them
- everything but the kitchen sink
- every little helps
- every stage of the game, at
- explore every avenue
- face the facts/music
- fact of the matter, the
- fair and square
- fair sex, the
- fall between two stools/by the wayside
- fall on deaf ears
- far and wide
- far be it from me
- fast and furious
- fast lane, in the
- fate worse than death
- feel-good factor, the
- few and far between
- field day, having a
- fighting fit
- final insult
- fine-tooth comb, go/went through it with a
- finger in every pie
- finger of suspicion
- firing on all cylinders
- first and foremost
- first things first
- fish out of water
- fit as a fiddle
- fits and starts, in/by
- flash in the pan
- flat as a pancake
- flat denial
- flavour of the month
- flog a dead horse
- fly in the ointment
- fond belief
- food for thought
- footloose and fancy free
- forlorn hope
- fraught with danger/peril
- free, gratis and for nothing
- frenzy of activity
- from the sublime to the ridiculous
- from the word go
- fudge the issue
- fullness of time, in the
- funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?
- F-word
- gainful employment
- gameplan
- generous to a fault
- gentle giant
- gentleman’s agreement
- gentler sex, the
- girl Friday
- give a dog a bad name
- give him an inch and he’ll take a yard
- give up the ghost
- glowing tribute
- glutton for punishment
- goes without saying, it
- goes from strength to strength
- golden opportunity
- good as gold
- go off half-cocked
- gory details, the
- grasp the nettle
- greatest thing since sliced bread
- great unwashed, the
- green with envy
- grim death, like
- grin and bear it
- grind/ground to a halt
- grist to the mill
- guardian angel
- hale and hearty
- hand in glove with
- handle with kid gloves
- hand over fist
- hand to mouth existence
- handwriting is on the wall
- hanged for a sheep as a lamb, we might as well be
- happy accident/event/hunting ground/medium
- happily ensconced
- hard and fast rule
- has what it takes
- having said that
- have a nice one
- have got a lot on my plate, I’ve
- have I got news for you?
- head and shoulders above
- heaping ridicule
- heart and soul
- heart’s in the right place, his/her
- hell or high water
- high and dry
- hit or miss
- hit the nail on the head
- hit the panic button
- hive of activity
- Hobson’s choice
- hold your horses
- hoist with his own petard
- honest truth, the
- hope against hope
- horns of a dilemma, on the
- horses for courses
- howling gale
- how long is a piece of string?
- how time flies
- if the worst comes to the worst
- if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em
- if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen
- if you’ve got it, flaunt it
- ignorance is bliss
- ill-gotten gains
- ill-starred venture
- impossible dream, an/the
- in all conscience/honesty
- in a nutshell
- inch-by-inch search
- in less than no time
- in one ear and out the other
- inordinate amount of
- in the pipeline
- in this day and age
- iota, not one
- it never rains but it pours
- it’s a small world
- it’s not the end of the world
- it stands to reason
- it will all come out in the wash
- it will all end in tears
- it will soon blow over
- ivory tower
- jack of all trades (but master of none)
- jaundiced eye
- jewel in the crown
- Johnny-come-lately
- jockey for position
- jump on the bandwagon
- jump the gun
- just deserts
- just for the record
- just what the doctor ordered
- keep a low profile
- keep a straight face
- keep my/your head above water
- keep the wolf from the door
- keep your chin up
- keep your nose clean
- keep your nose to the grindstone
- kickstart
- kill two birds with one stone
- kill with kindness
- kiss of death
- knee-high to a grasshopper
- knocked into a cocked hat
- knocked/knocks the spots off
- know the ropes
- know which side your bread’s buttered on
- knuckle under
- labour of love
- lack-lustre performance
- lap of luxury
- large as life/larger than life
- last but not least
- last straw, it’s the
- late in the day
- laugh all the way to the bank
- laugh up your sleeve
- lavish praise/hospitality/ceremony
- lay it on with a trowel
- leading light
- leave/left in the lurch
- leave no stone unturned (or as the bird hater said, leave no tern unstoned)
- let bygones be bygones
- let’s get this show on the road
- let sleeping dogs lie
- well alone
- lick his/their wounds
- level playing field
- light at the end of the tunnel
- like a house on fire
- little the wiser
- little woman
- live and let live
- local difficulty, a little
- lock, stock and barrel
- long arm of the law
- long hot summer
- long time no see
- loose end, at a
- lost cause
- lost in admiration
- lost in contemplation
- love you and leave you, I must
- made of sterner stuff
- made/make a killing
- make a mountain out of a molehill
- make an offer I can’t refuse
- make ends meet
- make hay while the sun shines
- make no bones about it
- make my day
- make or break
- make/making short work of it
- make/making the best of a bad job
- make/making tracks
- man after my own heart, a
- make/making waves
- manna from heaven
- man of straw/man of the world
- man to man
- many hands make light work
- mark my words
- matter of life and death
- method in his madness
- Midas touch, the
- millstone around your neck
- mind boggles, the
- mixed blessing (and a variation, it was not an
- unmixed blessing . . . )
- model of its kind/propriety
- moment of truth
- moot point
- more haste, less speed
- more in sorrow than in anger
- more than meets the eye
- more the merrier, the
- mortgaged to the hilt
- movers and shakers
- move the goalposts
- much-needed reforms
- much of a muchness
- muddy the waters
- mutton dressed as lamb
- nail in his coffin, put/drive a
- name of the game, the
- nearest and dearest
- necessity is the mother of invention
- neck and neck
- needle in a haystack
- needless to say
- neither here nor there
- new lease of life
- nick of time, in the
- nine-day/day’s wonder
- nip it in the bud/nipped in the bud
- nitty-gritty
- no expense spared
- no names, no pack drill
- no news is good news
- no peace for the wicked
- no problem
- no skin off my nose
- no spring chicken
- nothing to write home about
- nothing ventured, nothing gained
- not just a pretty face
- not out of the woods yet
- not to be sneezed at
- not to put too fine a point on it
- now or never
- odd man out
- odds and ends
- off the beaten track
- off the cuff
- old as the hills
- older and wiser
- once bitten, twice shy
- once in a blue moon
- one fell swoop
- one in a million
- only time will tell
- on the ball
- on the level
- on the spur of the moment
- on the tip of my tongue
- out of sight, out of mind
- out of the blue
- out on a limb
- over and done with
- over my dead body
- over the top
- own goal, score an
- own worst enemy
- packed in like sardines
- painstaking investigation
- pale into insignificance
- palpable nonsense
- paper over the cracks
- par for the course
- part and parcel
- pass muster
- past its/his/her sell-by date
- patter of tiny feet
- pay through your nose
- pecking order
- picture of health
- piece de resistance
- pie in the sky
- pinpoint accuracy
- plain as a pikestaff
- plain as the nose on your face
- play your cards right
- pleased as Punch
- point of no return
- poisoned chalice
- pound of flesh
- powers that be, the
- practice makes perfect
- press on regardless
- pride and joy
- pride of place
- proof of the pudding
- pull out all the stops
- pure as the driven snow
- put on hold/the back burner
- put two and two together
- put up or shut up
- put your best foot forward
- put your foot down
- put your money where your mouth is
- put your nose out of joint
- quality of life
- quantum leap
- queer the pitch
- quick and the dead
- quid pro quo
- quiet before the storm, the
- race against time
- rack and ruin, going to
- raining cats and dogs (and hailing taxis)
- rat race, the
- read my lips
- red rag to a bull, like a
- reinventing the wheel
- reliable source (the reporter’s friend)
- resounding silence
- right as rain
- rings a bell
- rings true
- risk life and limb
- rock the boat, don’t
- Rome wasn’t built in a day
- rose by any other name, a
- rotten apple in a barrel, one
- rough diamond, a
- ruffled feathers
- ruled with a rod of iron
- run it up the flagpole (and see who salutes)
- run of the mill
- run to seed
- safe and sound
- sailing close to the wind
- sale of the century
- salt of the earth
- saved by the bell
- search high and low
- second to none
- seething cauldron
- see eye to eye
- see how the land lies
- see the wood for the trees, can’t
- sell like hot cakes
- serial gossiper/meddler/bullshit artist etc
- serious money
- set in stone/concrete
- shape or form, in any
- share and share alike
- ships that pass in the night
- shoot yourself in the foot/ shot himself in the foot
- short and sweet
- shot across the bows
- sick and tired
- sick as a parrot
- sight for sore eyes
- signed, sealed and delivered
- silent majority, the
- simmering hatred
- sitting duck
- sixes and sevens
- six of one and half-a-dozen of the other
- skating on thin ice
- skin of his teeth
- slaving over a hot stove all day, I’ve been
- slowly but surely
- smell a rat
- snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (and, of course, vice versa!)
- so far so good
- solid as a rock
- so near and yet so far
- sorely needed
- sour grapes
- splendid isolation
- square peg in a round hole
- straight and narrow, stick to the
- straight from the shoulder
- strange as it may seem/ strange to relate
- strike while the iron’s hot
- suffer fools gladly, he/she doesn’t
- suffer in silence
- survival of the fittest
- sugar the pill
- sweetness and light, all
- swept off his feet
- swings and roundabouts
- tail between his legs, he went off with his
- take it with a grain of salt
- take the bull by the horns
- take the rough with the smooth
- tarred with the same brush
- teach your mother/grandmother to suck eggs
- technological wizardry
- teething troublesv
- tender loving care (TLC)
- tender mercies
- terra firma
- thankful for small mercies, be
- that’s life
- that’s the way the cookie crumbles
- there but for the grace of God go I
- thereby hangs a tale
- there’s no such thing as a free lunch
- this day and age
- throw in the towel
- thunderous applause
- tighten our/your belts
- time flies
- time heals everything/ all ills
- time waits for no man
- tip of the iceberg, the
- tired and emotional
- tireless campaigner/crusader
- tissue of lies
- to all intents and purposes
- tomorrow is another day
- too little, too late
- to my dying day
- too awful/terrible/horrible to contemplate
- too many cooks (spoil the broth)
- too numerous to mention
- torrential rain
- towering inferno
- tower of strength
- trials and tribulations
- turn a deaf ear
- turn over a new leaf
- twenty-twenty hindsight
- twinkling of an eye, in a
- twisted him around her little finger
- two’s company, three’s a crowd
- ultra-sophisticated
- unacceptable face of capitalism (or any other institution you want to knock)
- unavoidable delay
- unalloyed delight
- unconscionable time, taking an/unconscionable liar
- under a cloud
- under the weather
- unequal task
- university of life
- unkindest cut of all
- unsung heroes
- untimely end
- untold wealth
- unvarnished truth
- up to scratch/not up to scratch
- upper crust
- vanish into thin air
- variety is the spice of life
- vested interest
- vicious circle
- vote with their feet
- wages of sin (is death)
- waited on hand and foot
- walking on broken glass
- warts and all
- waste not, want not
- water under the bridge
- wealth of experience/material/knowledge
- wedded bliss
- weighed in the balance and found wanting
- well-earned rest
- wheels within wheels
- when the cats away the mice will play
- when the going gets tough (the tough get going)
- whiter than white
- winter of discontent
- with all due respect
- with bated breath
- with malice aforethought
- without a shadow of a doubt
- without fear of contradiction
- woman scorned, hell hath no fury like a
- wonders will never cease
- word to the wise, a
- work my fingers to the bone, I
- world’s your oyster, the
- writing’s on the wall, the
- wrong end of the stick, you’ve got the
- yawning gulf
- year in, year out
- you can bet your bottom dollar/last penny
- you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink
- you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
- you can’t teach an old dog new tricks
- you can’t win ‘em all
- you could have knocked me down with a feather
- you get what you pay for
- you pays your money and takes your choice
- your guess is as good as mine
- you’re breaking my heart
- you’re only young once
(reproduced from Collins Complete Writing Guide)