# Lazy English and stupid cliched phrases people use without thinking. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290 "2003-07-04T20:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/41 "2003-07-06T00:57:18Z")
“Lost their battle with Cancer” I have never known of anyone who succumbed to the disease which hadn’t been reported as they “Lost their battle” with it. Some people never get a chance to “battle” it. Some don’t choose to “battle” with it. I wish someone would come up with a new way to express this tragic circumstance. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/42 "2003-07-06T02:21:53Z")
Make no mistake… Varying states of… (usualy decay) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/43 "2003-07-06T02:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*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 don’t think his point was that it’s never worth mentioning hard work paying off; it’s that the phrase “hard work paid off” is an overused cliche, and that a good writer would find a better way to get the idea across. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/44 "2003-07-06T02:37:40Z")
It’s my understanding that if your T-Cell cound dips to a certain measure, you have AIDS. Full-blown AIDS is when this has been the case long enough for you to suffered the effects associated with AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/45 "2003-07-06T03:08:27Z")
> [@](#): > > **Zeldar** : > We’ll be right back… As much as I dislike that one, it certainly is not as offensive as the “Don’t touch that dial!” of the 1950’s. That always led to intimidation or guilt on my part. These are some I try to avoid: turned up missing Last, but not least… a mile a minute centered around (impossible to do) We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. That’s all water over the dam. slippery slope get a life (Say that again and I might take yours…;)) The statment that makes me furious: “If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain.” I almost always vote. But if I chose not to, I would still have the right to complain! You rarely hear one that would make slightly more sense: “You voted for her. You don’t have the right to complain.” In conclusion, it goes without saying that overused cliches are getting on my last nerve. Get a grip, people! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/46 "2003-07-06T03:25:41Z")
In my humble opinion… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/47 "2003-07-06T04:06:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fionn \* > \*\*I have a hunch that “hard work gets nothing” and “sheer luck saves the day” wouldn’t have been forbidden, but the events attached to the former weren’t typically newsworthy and we were too polite to speculate on the latter. In print, at least. > > It’s a shame. I would have dearly loved to headline a story “Endless hard work gets football team jack squat.” > \*\* Oh, you meant for writing headlines? I thought you meant he didn’t ever want you to use “hard work pays off” in a regular old sentence. Not exactly the greatest sentence in the world, but hardly ban-worthy. I was a sportswriter for several years, and the headline I always wanted to write was “[Team A] beats shit out of [Team B].” ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/48 "2003-07-06T05:53:47Z")
No one ever used it any capacity, either for headlines or captions or in the text of an article. However, if someone had said it, we wouldn’t have had any choice but to quote them accurately. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/49 "2003-07-06T06:00:44Z")
I hate the use of “whatever the current scandal is-gate”, though I did enjoy the British presses “Camilla-gate”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_MacDairmuid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_MacDairmuid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_MacDairmuid)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/50 "2003-07-06T08:03:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*… > > I was a sportswriter for several years, and the headline I always wanted to write was “[Team A] beats shit out of [Team B].” \*\* But you probably could have gotten away with “Redskins squeeze out Browns.” ---
**Author:** ![Hokkaido\_Brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d26b3c/32.png) [@Hokkaido\_Brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hokkaido_Brit)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/51 "2003-07-06T10:14:41Z")
I have a brief window in my schedule in which to tell you that at the end of the day, getting rid of cliches and buzzwords is an idea I can run with. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/52 "2003-07-06T19:22:46Z")
**Mua’Dib** , I think it’s _Politics And The English Language_. _When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases- **bestial atrocities, iron heel, blood-stained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder** - one often has the curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy…_ Also _It is easier- even quicker, once you have the habit- to say **In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption** than **I think**._ Great essay. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/53 "2003-07-06T21:42:32Z")
I find it disturbing that I use so many of the phrases listed here… ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/54 "2003-07-06T23:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\ ***these ones** > > If I could annihilate a single word sequence, it would be, “these ones.” > \*\* I think this is a good example of an expression that ought to be correct, but isn’t. Why is it you can say “this one” but not “these ones”? ---
**Author:** ![indyz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/fbc32d/32.png) [@indyz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indyz)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/55 "2003-07-06T23:25:26Z")
Many members of the skydiving community (myself included) despise the use of “plunged/plummeted to his death” in the reports of fatalities in the sport. That damn cliche appears in probably ninety percent of news reports of a skydiving death. It’s especially annoying since most deaths in the sport are the result of pilot error under a perfectly functional parachute, and do not involve any sort of dramatic plunge. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/56 "2003-07-07T04:02:56Z")
Please make them stop saying “like so many” and “like so much”, particularly in “news” articles. AUUUUUGGGGGGGH! In 99% of the cases, “like” would do if you really must use such a stupid simile. Also, EVERYTIME I read about a smell lately, the location is always “redolent with” the smell. Enough with the redolent already! I read it literally 7 times in one book. Can’t you come up with another phrase? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/57 "2003-07-07T04:33:47Z")
Number one most hated journalistic cliché: “(Smokers/non-smokers/pot-users/pot-haters) are _fuming_ over…” ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/58 "2003-07-07T17:01:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*“Lost their battle with Cancer” > > I have never known of anyone who succumbed to the disease which hadn’t been reported as they “Lost their battle” with it. > > Some people never get a chance to “battle” it. Some don’t choose to “battle” with it. > > I wish someone would come up with a new way to express this tragic circumstance. \*\* I was going to use this! I find this so overused by lazy writers. I used to belong to this online community in which one of the members had terminal cancer or so she claimed. I kind of had a feeling she was full of crap because she always used the “battling cancer” cliche about herself. I just kind of felt that if it was real she’d have a more original thought about it. Guess what? I was right! ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/59 "2003-07-07T17:21:26Z")
There was a hilarious commercial on British telly once that ran a bunch of clips of different footballers saying “At the end of the day” in quick succession. Ever since then that one has made me laugh. The other thing that drives me bonkers is the current use of the word “earn” to mean “buy stuff.” Earn points ! Earn rewards ! Earn a free vacation ! ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290/60 "2003-07-07T17:46:22Z")
How about this one? The use of city names as shorthand for whatever institution or industry the city is famous for. Examples: “Washington” for the United States federal government. “Lansing” for the Michigan state government, or fill in the capital and name of your state. “Detroit” for the American automobile industry. “Hollywood” for the movie/entertainment industry. “Rome” for the Catholic church. There are probably others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-english-and-stupid-cliched-phrases-people-use-without-thinking/186290.md?page=4)