(Note: Due to the limitations of the HTML character set, the word
'cliches' throughout this document is spelled without the accent mark over the
'e'. The way it appears in the green letters is the
proper spelling.)
From Chapter 2 of The Play of Words by Richard Lederer:
"The earliest cliches were printing plates, or stereotypes, made first from wood,
then clay, and, finally, cast from metal. The figurative sense of cliches and
stereotypes arose later because these plates were often reused and were
impervious to change.
"A cliche is a worn-out expression, so threadbare that is
has become completely predictable. Offer the first half of such a phrase, and
instantly in the minds of almost everybody flashes the second half. If, for
example, I say 'beck,' most English speakers will resond with the knee-jerk 'and
call.' If I say 'cut,' the fill-in will inevitably be 'and dried.' The very fact
that the second halves of such expressions skip so easily into the mind is a
danger signal. It means that everyone else would use the same turn of phrase, a
perfect recipe for triteness.
"Take the hackneyed formula '(adjective) as a
(noun).' Out of hurry or habit many speakers and writers press into service these
stale, formulaic phrases without much regard for their meanings. We call someone
happy as a clam, for example, without having any idea of what's so happy
about clams. Why should this helpless bivalve -- captive in its shell until pried
open and steamed, baked, minced, stuffed, or casinoed by humans -- be happy?
As it
turns out, happy as a clam is only half of the original saying. The full
simile is 'happy as a clam at high tide.' A clam at high tide is quite sensibly
happy because, at that time, the mud flat in which it buries itself is safe from
human invasion."
Exercises
Fill in the missing half of these animal cliches, and see if you are guilty of using them yourself:
| 1. bald as_________ | 2. blind as_________ | 3. brave as_________
|
| 4. busy as_________ | 5. clean as_________ | 6. crazy as_________
|
| 7. drunk as_________ | 8. free as_________ | 9. hairy as_________
|
Do the same for these food cliches
| 10. American as_________ | 11. brown as_________ | 12. cool as_________
|
| 13. easy as_________ | 14. flat as_________ | 15. nutty as_________
|
| 16. red as_________ | 17. thick as_________ | 18. wrinkled as_________ |
|
Now, for something different, fill in the missing first part:
| 19._________as an arrow | 20. _________as a bell | 21._________as a bone
|
| 22._________as a fiddle | 23._________as a flash | 24._________as the day is long
|
| 25._________as a judge | 26._________as night and day | 27._________as a rail
|
Since we have apparently gone off the deep end, try some of these:
| 28._________, _________, and able | 29._________, _________, and away
|
| 30._________, _________, and blue |
31._________, _________, and delivered
|
| 32._________, _________, and barrel |
33._________, _________, and clothing
|
| 34._________, _________, and everywhere |
35._________, _________, and gas
|
| 36._________, _________, and handsome |
37._________, _________, and a jump
|
If you are not now mad as a hatter, complete these:
| 38. at arm's _________ | 39. at a snail's _________ |
40. a hornet's _________
|
| 41. a monkey's _________ | 42. the cat's_________ |
43. writer's _________
|
| 44. _________! _________! action! |
45. _________! _________! It's Superman!
|
| 46. _________ and _________ and everything nice |
47. _________, _________, and speak no evil
|
Attempt these and see if in using them you are guilty as sin:
| 48. I know this place like _________ |
49. I need this like _________
|
| 50. She looks great; she looks like _________ |
51. He looks great; he is dressed _________ |
You may not have been pleased as Punch about these exercises ( you
may very well be mad as Hell) but by now this should all be old hat
to you. If you think that studying cliches is beating a dead horse,
perhaps you should consider how often you use these trite phrases, not only in
your assignments, but in day-to-day speech. Some people use cliches like they
were going out of style (which they already have) and will speak in them
until the cows come home. Trite phrases can make essays sound as if the
writer had no other source of language available, and had never consulted a
dictionary or thesaurus before in his/her life. Such essay are boring as
mud and a royal pain to have to read. While for some people cliches
may be crystal clear, for most others they are as old as yesterday's
news. If you can refrain from using them, your writing and speech will soon
become tip-top, ship-shape, and expressing yourself intelligently,
interestingly, and clearly will be a piece of cake.
On to more cliches!
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