Friday, August 18, 2006

Cliche Central. Hey! Is that a cliche?

People are lazy. People talk, drive, write, and live without thinking.

Wake up! Pay attention to your life. Pay attention to what you say, write, and do. It affects others. And it affects you -- it makes you who you are.

As a writer, I'm always keeping my eyes peeled (that's one of my favorite idioms - "keeping your eyes peeled" -- it's just so gross and evocative) for cliches in writing. Cliches crop up constantly due to laziness. Came across a couple of interesting sites that list and debate what phrases and words have had just a tad too much use:

http://www.newswriting.com/groaners.htm

http://tommangan.net/banned/

Reminds me of a bumper sticker my Dad saw once. It said: "Eschew Obfuscation."

No comments: