Language, Lies, And Hot Fresh Phrases

Examine old metaphors and throw out those that are spoiled

Use powerful, punchy words to serve your audience

Tired cliches are not only boring, but they also keep your reader from hearing what you say. We all tune out when we hear something we have read hundreds of times before, so keep your metaphors fresh and tasty.

Tired cliches also lose the listener because no one bothers to make a visual picture in their mind of something they routinely hear.

In some cases, it is a good thing.

When you hear the phrase: “It all came to a head, when…” you likely do not visualize a pimple swelling to the point of popping, and it’s just as well that you do not. Imagery like this over-used example is what we might appreciate as thankfully non-descriptive. Yet, you will continue to hear it, read it, and more or less, glaze over at its lost shock value.

Some other examples of no longer visual metaphors and similes include:

It was the calm before the storm, Or, It was the perfect storm.

Karma is a B****. Or, What goes around comes around.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

She/he was as old as the hills.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

There are countless more of course, and you will recognize them because of how very familiar you are with them.

To describe “the perfect storm” think of something new:

It was the coming together of revolution, smelly old socks, and hot air on the breath of the liars.

That is, think of something visual you have never heard before.

Misunderstood science becomes cliches that are lies

Another problem is old cliches that are not only worn out but are usually wrong. This makes them misleading.

A quantum is the smallest possible unit of energy. Yet, you will hear it used something like this:

Personal computer keyboards were a quantum leap from old, ribbon typewriters.

Since quanta, and/or quantum, are very, very small units, this seems to say the exact opposite of what the speaker intends.

Another phrase used wrong a million times per day is the “light year.”

A light year is a measure of distance. It is approximately six trillion miles, or nine trillion kilometers, across. If your sentence is about time, do not use distance to describe a difference.

Wrong: We are light years ahead of our dinosaur competitors.

Right: We must travel light years to find this new world of planetary interconnection.

Other common examples that are mistaken and overused should be avoided:

He/She is as blind as a bat. I feel as meek as a kitten. We use just ten percent of our brains. Lightning doesn’t strike twice.

Some bats have better eyesight than we do. Kittens are astonishingly fierce. We use all of our brains in complex ways — at varying times, — to varying degrees. Lightening can strike more than once, even within a single storm.

I am so hungry for fresh I could eat an over-loaded camel

Reading that someone is “hungry as a horse,” “head over heels,” “stopped dead in their tracks” “is cold as ice,” or anything that may sound descriptive but really is just too frequently cited that it is meaningless, does not grab the reader.

It does not set them firmly on your invigorating journey of words.

Words should alert the reader and keep them engaged.

Hearing that this event (or deed) is the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” does not evoke breaking. Or camels, or straw. Try using another more original visualization.

Her tantrum was the rip in my backpack that allowed a whole torrent of over-loaded junk to spill across the smooth floor of my composure.

Imagination is an important key to finding something new.

You might say it’s the cream in your coffee, but better to say it’s the unlimited sky in your silver lining or whichever descriptive vision you can create.