W5-e: Clichés

W5-eDo not rely heavily on clichés.

The pioneer who first announced that he had “slept like a log” no doubt amused his companions with a fresh, unlikely comparison. Today, however, that comparison is a cliché, a saying that can no longer add emphasis or surprise.

To see just how dully predictable clichés are, put your hand over the right-hand column and then finish the phrases on the left.

beat around the bush
blind as a bat
busy as a bee, beaver
cool as a cucumber
crystal clear
dead as a doornail
light as a feather
like a bull in a china shop
out of the frying pan and into the fire
playing with fire
selling like hotcakes
starting out at the bottom of the ladder
water under the bridge
white as a sheet, ghost
avoid clichés like the plague

The solution for clichés is simple: Just delete them or rewrite them.

image

Sometimes you can write around a cliché by adding an element of surprise. One student revised a cliché about butterflies in her stomach like this:

If all of the action in my stomach is caused by butterflies, there must be a horde of them, with horseshoes on.

The image of butterflies wearing horseshoes is fresh and unlikely, not predictable like the original cliché.