They’re like cruise control for the mouth: Insert phrase here, followed with subject at hand, then close with phrase there. Player interviews, political speeches and corporate vision statements are so loaded with overused “touch points” as to render them nearly meaningless. Cliché after cliché they’ve become cliché themselves… Someone has to say something to keep the presses (and blogs) churning out type.
Something to ponder: Are there any positive aspects to a cliché? Can a well placed cliché be effective in identifying the product/thought at hand and appeal to it’s intended target? Do some groups own particular clichés? Or do some people prefer the comfort of a Known Quantity that a cliché brings, in that they’ve seen it before and can therefore trust it? In applying a cliché to yourself, have you somehow “arrived”?
While operating in the Creative world (prepare for irony) we traffic a fair amount of clichés. Sometimes strategically, sometimes under threat of losing a project or client. Either way, we know one when we see it and have developed a certain tolerance, if not outright appreciation, for some clichés. The McGuffinites respond to an informal “favorite” and a “disliked” cliché poll:
Chris Sculles
Fave: “Mind your P’s and Q’s.” Great history with that one.
Detests: “Think outside the box.” Gag…
Betsy Fiden
Fave: Clichés all need to go away. Same with Puns.
Detests: “True that.” Not sure if it’s a true cliché, but it needs to go away too.
Ryan Carpenter
Fave: Band photos taken in an alley or in front of a brick wall.
Detests: “Take it to the next level.” Exceptionally painful if used at the beginning and end of a sentence.
Brendan Shanley
Fave: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Always thought there was merit to that one.
Detests: “Can you Adobe that?”
Ashley Mock
Fave: I like the confused clichés: “It’s hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by vultures.”
Detests: “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Huh? What else do you do with cake?
Kiley O’Brien
Fave: “Water, apple, duck…” A cliche buffet (water seeks it’s own level + the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree + ducks have ducks) used by my family.
Detests: Baby clothes with saccharine compliment to the mother/father/aunt/grandparent/postman.
Nathan Fields
Fave: There’s no such thing as a favorite cliché… how can you ask me that?
Detests: “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
Andrea DeMarte
Fave: He/she “threw me under the bus.”
Detests: “Put yourself out there.”