Avoid clichés like the plague!

Source: photo taken by the author.

Clichés are tired, worn-out, hackneyed expressions. Through decades (or centuries) of overuse, they have lost all of their vitality and originality – like that overplayed song on the radio you can’t stand to listen to anymore. Ironically, today’s clichés began life as yesterday’s striking and original images and metaphors. They were so good, in fact, that they became victims of their own popularity. Today, we understand a cliché like “it’s raining cats and dogs outside” to mean it’s raining heavily outside, but the imagery behind this cliché is lost on us. It has become a meaningless way of simply saying “it’s raining hard outside,” which is better because at least it’s direct and clear.

In first-draft writing, clichés organically pop up like weeds in a garden. That’s because writers tend to plow through first drafts without stopping or censoring themselves, and clichés spring readily to mind. This is ordinary. In revision, however, it is vital to eliminate all clichés. Writing, like gardening, requires the vigilant pulling of weeds.

But how does one go about this process of weeding? There are two techniques. First, you can replace the cliché with a straightforward statement as in the example above. Instead of writing “it’s raining cats and dogs outside,” simply state that “it’s raining hard outside” or “it’s pouring outside.” A more fun and challenging technique is to think of a fresh, creative way to express the thought behind the cliché. To continue the rain example, perhaps you could write “it’s raining down like a boxer’s blows.” This, of course, is not a great example. Given sufficient time and mental exertion, you can think of a better one, but you get the idea.

And in this way, your vivid, original phrase could someday become tomorrow’s cliché to be avoided!

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.