A Day Without Cliché

Try to go a day without using a cliché. Wait, wait, wait, that's not fair. Try to go an hour, instead. It's a lot harder than you think.


Before you try, I must warn you:
- Once you tune your brain to listen for these, you will not be able to turn it off!
- You may chuckle while others are speaking, apparently to them for no reason at all, implying insanity.


I speak from experience.  Not long ago, a few colleagues and I were discussing how often these phrases were used, their origins, misuse, etc.. It's far more often than one might think. In fact, our common dialogue has become inundated with them.


Dictionary.com defines cliché as:
- a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse


Overuse, is an understatement. (PAI, no, perhaps oxymoron?)
The average person uses clichés more than Adel's "Rolling In The Deep" is played on the radio.   


There is even a popular commercial about it, or maybe more than one. The one I'm thinking about is a group of people around a business conference table. Dunkin Donuts, maybe, or FedEx? They all take turns saying things like, "..run it up the flagpole", "circle back offline", "way to bring your 'A' game!", and so on.
 thought of suggesting a Twitter hashtag, like #CQ (Cliche-Quote), but they are spoken aloud far more often than written or typed, especially when limited by 140 characters. It's more of a verbal, conversational thing.


Back to the point, we started out trying to use as many clichés as possible, with each other. A little fun humor to liven up the workplace. Problem was, we could not stop isolating them from regular conversations. They stuck out like a sore thumb. There I go! I'm writing this on a Friday, and I tend to feel somewhat goofy leading into the weekends.


So if you come across any good ones, please drop me a line. Comment, Tweet, SMS, or whatever floats your boat. They're always a barrel of laughs!