The Word Garden

You have words - now what do you do with them?
User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

The Word Garden

Postby Slava » Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:45 pm

When do you pick them? How do you know if they are ripe or perhaps over-ripe?

Here's a little piece from The Chronicle of Higher Education that addresses this question, a bit:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca ... y-cliches/

What do you think? Should clichés always be eschewed, or welcomed at times?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: The Word Garden

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:41 pm

It depends on so many things. Which cliché, and what is the context? As with any word or phrase, any author should pick the one that fits exactly. More likely, this would be a light piece, perhaps a comedy or a satire. But it's also possible that a cliché says exactly what you want to say in a serious work. After all, it became a cliché because it was a useful expression.
pl


Return to “Grammar”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests