Subject:
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You Should Avoid Cliches Like the Plague
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Sat, 8 Feb 2003 03:16:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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723 times
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From a mailing list I'm on
You Should Avoid Cliches Like the Plague
Although part and parcel of the warp and weft of the language of
the man on the Clapham omnibus, clichés should be conspicuous by
their absence. As and when you get down to the wire, rolling out a
whole raft of tattered and torn expressions that have seen better
days is going to have all the impact of a wet weekend in Wigan.
Another downside, one that goes without saying, is that if you
deploy clichés like they're going out of fashion, especially on an
ongoing basis, the message in whatever you write will to all
intents and purposes be rendered null and void. Also, you'll end up
looking wet behind the ears and with a mountain to climb, possibly
with egg on your face, having let a golden opportunity go by like
ships in the night. You need trials and tribulations like these
like a hole in the head.
First and foremost, the bottom line is that the difference between
good and bad writing has to be like chalk and cheese - it's a whole
new ballgame. Bear in mind, though, that the way you seamlessly set
out your stall is not a question of rules and regulations, more of
custom and practice. If you are to write like an angel, your purple
prose has to be to die for. It has to be cutting edge enough to
establish an abiding presence in the hearts and minds not just of
the serried ranks of the powers that be, including the great and
the good and the movers and shakers, but with all and sundry at the
grass roots level. Reading it has to be a real defining moment for
people of every rank and station, as though you were talking to
them one-on-one even though they may be spread far and wide. It's
got to make them hot to trot and ready to rumble and, even as we
speak, give them a compelling reason to change.
Last but not least, the fact of the matter is that details count.
No matter how finely honed your style may or may not be, you have
to make certain beyond peradventure that your spelling is spot on,
your punctuation squeaky clean and your grammar above reproach. To
err is human but you still need to make as certain as day that your
mistakes are few and far between.
There, that's done and dusted: I rest my case.
The foregoing was written for a style manual for British civil servants.
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