Don't Take Away My Cliché!
By LinDee Rochelle, Penchant for Penning

If you received the 03-25-07 WWW News & Views*, you will note I utilized several clichés – or were they adages? – I did this to bring your attention to them, and the curious problems they can cause a writer. It has been determined by the furtive Guardians of Grammar and Good Writing that clichés are, well ... cliché. Old hat. No longer an item. Passé. However, I tend to feel that many so-called of Purveyors of Perfect Prose mistake well-placed adages, for clichés and fast-fading phraseology fads.

I love adages – and some timeless clichés -- often silently thanking those who first uttered the phrases so that I might use them when I cannot possibly improve upon them! Fad phrases are fun when they’re new and have their place in current articles and period works. But using them too frequently can get you into editorial trouble. Some clichés can actually become adages simply by hanging around long enough. An adage is an “old” saying, by the way. So some editors really rankle at your reference to an “old adage.”

Problem is, do you know the difference? Sometimes click-clacking along, we throw in what we think is a terrific line. If you want to appeal to a mass market, it is not your era’s terminology, however witty and appropriate it may be, that you need to consider – it is that of your reader. For whom are you writing?

 “My-bad” and Homer Simpson’s “duh-oh!” are soon-to-be (if not already) passing fads. As were “groovy,” “who’s your daddy,” and “sit on it!” Great fun, but ...  they will definitely date your work. Yes, there are some “tired old clichés” that simply don’t hold water anymore and probably never did. Is your character “up at the crack of dawn”? Is there a crack where the sun dawns? Let’s revise that to something like, “Her eyes squinted open at the first bright ray of the morning sun.” However, “as clear as mud” gives a great visual, doesn’t it? Hard to improve on that one.

In other words (see, we really can’t get away from them), use your common sense. Does the cliché truly lend anything to your work, or does it date your thinking like “the best thing since sliced bread.” Try to keep it “fresh as a daisy,” at least within the last century.

The dictionary definitions:

Adage – proverb or short statement expressing a general truth

Cliché – phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought

Fad – intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, esp. one that is short-lived; a craze (apply that to words, as well)

Always writing,

LinDee

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