Cliché: a French word of course! A phrase, expression,
or idea overused so much it is more likely to be used in a
negative connotation (Also, a printing term when type was
set by hand).
We have entered a millennium when original thought and
creativity is frowned upon, judging by the abundance of
clichés in our media and everyday life. Airhead celebs and
brain dead politicians alike use the lingo of the media.
What is the poor man in the street to do? I fear for new
generations of our impressionable kids growing up without
being able form a complete sentence absent the words “Like”
or “Whatever.”
Here in America our politicians live and die by cliché.
Sound bites are their forte, so trite phrases are about all
you hear (I believe there are special academies for public
officials that carefully train our politicians and civil
servants in an official-speak language that bears little
resemblance to everyday English).
Turn on TV news and listen to any government official’s
verbiage. Phrases such as, “The end of the day,” “The
whole nine yards” (Actually refers to a Scotsman’s dress
kilt!), “We give 110 percent” (Hmm, 6 pounds of what, in
a 5 pound bag?), “Going forward” (as opposed to going
backward?), and let us not forget the ever popular “24/7.”
What self-respecting local hack…er, politician could
live without the phrase, “Let me speak to that issue” -
they would be utterly helpless. Another favorite would be
“At this moment in time,” along with the evergreen, “I,
personally…”
The English respondents were scathing in their comments
and obviously their public servants aren’t much more
erudite than ours. “To be honest” was one particularly
despised phrase signifying to most that it means the user is
usually dishonest!
“By the end of play today,” “Can’t get my head
around it,” “Don’t just talk the talk, you got to walk
the walk,” “Lessons will be learned,” “Actually,”
“Brilliant,” ”You know?” “To be fair,” and so
on. Makes you wish a new Winston Churchill would come along
and show us how to speak precisely, (and with clarity) once
again.
We in the optical field are no strangers to
cliché-ridden language. “They’ll (new glasses) be fine,
you just have to get used to them,” or “You’ll look
like Sarah Palin in these!” and the ever popular, “But
we made them according to your Doctor’s prescription!”
“So, at the end of the day, remember that the things we
think are fairly unique are absolutely not. I personally
suggest, with all due respect, that we stop using these
clichés. At this moment in time, it’s a nightmare to hear
these tropes 24/7. C’mon, shouldn’t of we have stopped
this a long time ago? It’s easy, lets do it. After all,
its not rocket science.”