# Lazy use of cliched phrases

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-use-of-cliched-phrases/186292>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 4, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-use-of-cliched-phrases/186292 "2003-07-04T21:05:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**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 4, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-use-of-cliched-phrases/186292/1 "2003-07-04T21:05:38Z")

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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?