This week’s lesson we are delving into the world of clichés to remind us of spent phrases or over used vocabularies that have lost their bites and are no longer fashionable for the 21st century writer, the journalist or reporter. Whether you like it or not, these are popular statements that were in vogue, back then, say during the Victorian England, but have become stale or out dated in modern or current English. Plenty they are, but we select a few of them to illustrate how powerless they are, especially for the writer who composes for the ear. The word, cliché is derived from the French verb, clincher, meaning to make a metal casting of a stereotype.
It is translated in English to mean an out worn or hackneyed expression, one English enthusiast opined. In writing or speaking, it is extraordinarily difficult to avoid using clichés, some of the language purists have noted. Accordingly, the experts, insist, clichés present themselves at every turn begging to be used. The bottom line is, the more they are used the more ineffective they become, until eventually they are not only meaningless, but laughable, laments an English pundit.
Welcome to the murky planet of clichés, tread softly in order not to burn one’s finger, so to speak, for those writers or composers who consistently capitalise on worn out expressions to impress rather than express themselves. The truth is, in today’s world full of surprises, with the aid of technology, no body wants to waste precious time pondering over, or being fascinated with or given doses of colourful and archaic statements, such as “Every Tom, Dick and Harry” to describe or create that minds picture of “every body else has it, or own it.”
Plain writing or speaking clearly steals the show. Emphasis today is to make as many people, including the primary school pupil to understand and follow easily the message the encoder puts out there for public consumption. No segment of the society should be left out, if we must all be carried along in the task of building a better society. The acronym, KISS, keep it short and simple, appears to have indirectly worked against using flamboyant vocabularies to mesmerise or silence some people, the less sophisticated individuals, in particular who may not have been sufficiently schooled in Western education. The vulnerable persons in this case, should be taken into account that they matter as members of the population to be informed, educated and entertained in keeping with the four cardinal pillars of mass communication; employing the print and electronic channels, for example, as medium to reach out to them.
Indiscriminate use of clichés could either ruin or stifle one’s message, generate unnecessary noise capable of distorting information designed to stimulate or provoke the audience to act. Often, the Adman or copywriter is smarter, using captivating or alluring words, simple straight to the point English to sell the client services or products, devoid of clichés. Sample these, if possible look for a way around it to undo the puzzle; suggests better alternative to the following clichés picked at random, especially those that we are familiar with; “John has the heart of gold,” “Nchewi stands head shoulders above the rest.”
From the Holy Book, we have, “turn the other cheek, go from strength to strength, grind the faces of the poor, the land of the living, etc. And from Shakespeare, ” in my minds eye ” Hamlet, “at one fell swoop” Macbeth, “forgone conclusion” Othelio, “hoist with his own petard” Hamlet etc. But bear in mind that, the less one resorts to engaging these hackneyed phrases, the better one communicate, and make the desired impact as the writer envisaged. When possible, one could rely on the more familiar and popular cliché to drive home the point. If I may add, the choice is yours to make.
