One of my colleagues at Edelman, Dan Santow, has a great blog of writing tips, and I thought this week’s post on clichés was worth sharing with all of you.
Says Dan: A cliché is a metaphor or phrase characterized by its overuse. For the most part, using clichés is lazy, an easy out, a ready-made excuse not to take the time needed to think about what needs to be said in an original way. Sometimes, when writers want to use a cliché but they also want the reader to know that they know it's a cliché, they put it in quotation marks. I know I'm using a cliché, they're saying. You know I'm using a cliché. You know I know. I know you know I know. This all may be true in a Lucy and Ethel sort of way, yet that doesn't disguise the fact that using the cliché in the first place was a bad idea.
As William Safire put it, “Last, but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.” But how do you know if a phrase is a cliché unless it’s a really, really bad one? Dan has some great suggestions:
Some clichés are less offensive than others, and here are a few to watch out for that you may find creeping into your everyday business communications:
Remember that part of communicating effectively today means getting yourself noticed amongst the clutter and noise that clogs most people’s consciousness. Avoiding clichés in your written and even verbal exchanges can go a long way in facilitating this, so thanks Dan.
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Great list Alexandra. Another one that makes me cringe is "thinking outside the box" which uses an expression that is so overused it has become a cliche to describe "doing things differently."