Earlier on, we started the countdown to the 50 clichés or hackneyed words and phrases the purists and masters of the language instruct us to avoid “like the plague”, insisting that they no longer add up to the beauty of our essays. They advised that they are blunt and useless, as some English pragmatists would harshly tell us, and that they must be consigned to the history of spent words or phrases that are old and incapable of exciting the reading and listening publics. At best, they maintained, they fill up spaces that would have been used for productive and active words for better understanding of the message. “Avoid like the plague” is one among the top identified 50 clichés that are being romanced with, and readily available when it crosses one’s mind to engage the figures of speech that would best explain his or her hatred for a person or thing. It could be a friend who has cheated you or done some unimaginable thing to you that would force you cut off from him or her. Plagues, as you all know; and even as the reference book describes it as any of several epidemic diseases with high mortality rate is metaphorically translated, perhaps to magnify the extent of a relationship gone sour between friends, for instance. It could also be the fear of the unknown. When we were little children, the dark nights are the most fearful. And so, children avoid the dark nights “like the plague” in their innocence. No doubt, figures of speech tell the story vividly to heighten one’s imagination and paint the right pictures on one’s mind.
However, such expressions are no longer in vogue, but rather the writer is encouraged to explain them to be understood by even the kindergartens. Clichés are dangerously spinning into jargons, if I may say so. Do away with them as much as you can, at least to stop sounding boring and repetitive. Assuming you missed the beginning of our discussion with the first listed fourteen clichés of the top 50, here again they come alive for your take home, study and make them your ‘enemies’ henceforth when you are tempted to tell your story: “add insult to injury, as a matter of fact, as well as it can be expected, and the end of your tether, avoid like a plague, be that as it may, born and bred, by hook or crook, a chapter of accidents, chop and change, conspicuous by its absence, to cut the long story short, the dim and distant past, drown your sorrows”. These among the group of clichés, the purists and masters of the language say speak less of them or dump them out rightly and go after words or expressions that suit modern English. We did arrive at the idea that the first fourteen worn out statements should be taken as assignment or task in the quest to increase one’s vocabulary. Try to explain and expand the identified expressions, make them your own in your private reading. Even as students share them among yourselves, especially for the English or Mass Communication students. It could also be useful for the home and office; for the family, managers, corporate affairs officers, not least the writer, journalist and reporter to take note of them in carrying out their daily routines.
Again, always remember to explain the figures of speech and wise saying that easily attract, cage, and blind even the creative writer not to see beyond these overused, redundant and stale phrases. After all, the role of the journalist or the reporter is to interpret jargons, break them down to it simplest form for both the educated and the not too learned to follow unambiguously. Jargons are common currency in daily interpersonal conversation, especially among those who belong to trade unions regarded as exclusive. The medical science, the law profession, and others employ the services of jargons to float their ideas. The responsibility of the writer or journalist is to keep jargons at their simplest form to make any meaningful impact and to be understood. And so, the popular maxim, keep it short and simple, KISS, indirectly invites the journalist to exercise simplicity and avoid pomposity in the choice of words to get at the reading and listening publics without stress or anxious moments that could arise from engaging big grammar, to put it plainly. We will continue with our countdown to the 50 clichés in the coming editions after discussing the mix-up involving “governorship and gubernatorial” statements.
