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"cliche"
Definition: A trite expression--often a figure of speech whose effectiveness has been worn out through overuse and excessive familiarity. See Cliche Sites for Writers and Editors.
Etymology:
From the French, "a stereotype plate"
Examples and Observations:
- "That's the way with these directors: they're always biting the hand that lays the golden egg."
(Samuel Goldwyn)
- "Let's have some new cliches."
(Samuel Goldwyn)
- "From a cow's ear who can make silver lining?"
(Mr. Kandinsky in A Kid for Two Farthings, 1955)
- "Live and learn."
- "Stay the course."
- "What goes around comes around."
- "Our writers are full of cliches just as old barns are full of bats. There is obviously no rule about this, except that anything that you suspect of being a cliche undoubtedly is one and had better be removed."
(Wolcott Gibbs)
- "Shortly after returning from his tour of the Near East, Anthony Eden submitted a long-winded report to the Prime Minister on his experiences and impressions. [Winston] Churchill, it is told, returned it to his War Minister with a note, 'As far as I can see you have used every cliche except "God is love" and "Please adjust your dress before leaving."'"
(Life magazine, December 1940. Churchill denied that the story was true.)
- "I sailed through a logjam of dead literary cliches: snow-capped peaks above, fathomless depths below; and, in the middle of the picture, the usual gaunt cliffs, hoary crags, wild woods and crystal cascades."
(Jonathan Raban, Passage to Juneau)
- "It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue."
(Stephen Fry, Moab Is My Washpot, 1997)
- "Is 'tired old cliche' one?"
(Rod Schmidt)
- "I think my whole generation's mission is to kill the cliche."
(Beck)
- "I saw on HBO, they were advertising this boxing match. They said 'It's a fight to the finish.' That's a good place to end."
(Mitch Hedberg)
 Pronunciation: klee-SHAY |
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