I am sick (but not “sick and tired”) of people using certain phrases without thinking. It is as if some folks just have the grab bag of ready made phrases that they use to string together sentences. Instead of giving thought to their words they lazily rely on these snippet of concepts that in the end will only lead to fuzzy ideas and fuzzy definitions. I do this myself and am trying to break the habit (“Break the habit” may be one, in that where else would you use “break the” in such a way?). Many of these I have noticed on news broadcasts where they are very prone to blind phrase usage.
Here are a few that I have noticed:
Nary a word
fateful day
tightly woven
media (or anything else) has descended upon
Foster education
wipe from the face of the Earth
Knock it off
Can anyone else think of some of the cliched phrases?
Both are the bane of freshman comp teachers, although the first one occasionally redeems itself by providing comic relief; I once had the pleasure of reading a paper that began, “Since the dawn of time, men have been telling stories about dogs.”
While I agree with your general point, I don’t think this qualifies. “Knock it off” is just using a phrasal verb, also seen in “Knock off that racket”. I wouldn’t call it a cliche any more than “put up with it” or “give it up”.
But here are my contributions:
lay down the law
full-blown AIDS
these United States
My mom has been complaining for years that the news media inevitably report rescue workers facing “the grim task” of identifying the remains of victims after an accident.
I recently started a thread like this on a sports baord, so here are a few (applicable to everyday life):
out in left field
warning track power
(a third baseman) caught napping
Bush League
closer
in a pickle
a rhubarb
And cuz I’m from PA (P-A ) Go red up your room!
My personal peeve is cliches that are no longer used (or rarely used) in everyday life, but are still used in un-clever jokey ways in TV news shows. For instance, you never hear anybody say the something is “going to the dogs” unless it’s a local newscaster introducing a human-interest story about a dog show or some damn thing. And for some reason, no local news show can ever have any kind of dog-related story without that same tired gag being trotted out. They usually find some way to squeeze “doggone” in there somewhere too.
Another thing. Used to be, there would occasionally be “controversy” over some topic or other. Once in a while, there would be especially intense controversy about something, and eventually, journalists began referring to such situations as a “firestorm of controversy”. Okay, fair enough, although I don’t see why everybody has to use the same metaphor. But now, any controversy is a firestorm of controversy. There is no plain ordinary controversy anymore. And somebody is always “igniting” these firestorms. Newcasters always say that Joe Blow “ignited a firestorm of controversy”.
If I could annihilate a single word sequence, it would be, “these ones.”
Use “these,” all by itself. The world won’t explode if you do this. Although, someday my head may explode if I hear “these ones” too many times in one daylight period.
“Hot water heater”, this one runs a distant second.
It’s a water heater, by definition it makes the water hot.
“May I ask you a question?”
But there are plenty of instances where hard work accomplished jack squat! And other instances where goofing off and doing a half-assed job paid off through sheer luck.
I think I graded a thousand essays or papers this year that told me that Character X or the student himself just wanted to “live life to the fullest.” What a filler sentence that is!
The term “invades” annoys me when it comes to music. On the cover to the most recent Edge here in Austin, it announces “Ozzy Invades San Antonio!” Invasions require some sort of lasting force, no? When a band shows up, plays a concert, and leaves…I’m not seeing an invasion. It just bugs me.
Perhaps this one is too new, still - I’m already sooooo yawned out with the "sooooo" phrase/word. I know it makes some point, but it’s starting to stab my eardrums.
(I am sooooo disagreeing with myself on this right now!) :eek:
[sup]“This is so much bull shit!”[/sup][/ul]
) Go red up your room!