Clichés
If you use any of these trite and banal clichés you are obviously significantly trite and miserably banal yourself.
Bishops, Generals, and Bankers (B-G-B) in their oversimplifications tend to use clichés more often than other groups: stay away from B-G-B, and stay away from clichés too.
There is a silver lining
The idea is gaining traction
The idea has legs
Relax, Max
The perfect storm
The only constant is change
Go figure
So help me god
It’s all hands on deck
All bets are off
Keep it simple (or “kiss”)
Raise the bar
Connect the dots
Yikes!
Sink or swim
Go getter
Take it away
Walk away with that
No pain no gain
Sitting on his hands
Grand Old Party (or “gop”)
Expect the unexpected
Get a foot in the door
Best bang for the buck
The buck stops here
The full faith and taxing power of the U.S. government
To the best of my ability
It is not carved in stone
Fool me once fool me twice
Do not try this at home
Chilling with friends
The greatest recession since the depression
Rogue states
Things happen
When the going gets tough the tough ones get going
Wall Street and main street
Failure is not an option
The American dream
You ain’t heard nothing yet
Too much information (or “tmi”)
You know …
You see …
I mean …
The jury is out on that
A “can do” attitude
Too big to fail
A “go to” person
A dime a dozen
You know what I mean …
Don’t hold your breath
Does that make sense?
Conventional wisdom
A picture is worth a thousand words
Twisted logic
Approval rating
It’s on the radar
Wait and see
Plan B
Time will tell
Too good to be true
Too true to be funny
Uncharted territory
Sitting on the fence
Get on the bandwagon
Uncommon common sense
The worst is yet to come
Star-spangled banner
It is going to get worse before it gets better
Rush to conclusions
Hell, no!
God bless America
Thank god it’s Friday
Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead
(and, actually, Farragut was wrong, because there were indeed floating mines, but no torpedoes!)
Up the creek, without a paddle
The devil is in the detail
Kind of…
Like…
Cool
Gianormous
Ca-ching!
God bless (or “god bless you”)
Awesome!
Terrific!
Having said that
Good boy! (or “good girl!)
What’s thaaat?
Holy cow
A deer in the headlights
Holy guacamole
Darn
It does not hurt to try
Guesstimate
You lucky dog
On steroids
Touchy feely
Peace of mind
Just kidding
Just teasing you
Preaching to the choir
See me after class
A leap of faith
From both sides of the aisle
He touched their lives
Oh-my-god (or “oh my” or “omg”)
Oh my gosh
Jee (or “jee-wiz”)
Gee
Geez
Gosh
Told ya!
Carbon footprint
Go the extra mile
The chasm yawns wide
With a vengeance
Inconvenient truth
Fast and furious
Finish the job
Amazing
Damage control
Whoops
Like, wow …
Wow!
Thank god
Stocks rally
Toe the line
Put lipstick on a pig
A pitbull with lipstick
The ultimate sacrifice
Let’s roll
You cannot put the genie back into the bottle
Burning the midnight oil
The proof is in the pudding
Control freak
Deafening silence
Agree to disagree
My home is my castle
Home sweet home
Laughing all the way to the bank
Hellooooh …
Like, daaah …
Daaah …
Pushing the envelope
Keep yourself out of the news
Stocks ended in positive territory
Slippery slope
Fish or cut bait
Have a life (or “get a life”)
For show, not for go
Take your meds
Food for thought
What makes him tick
Let me be honest with you
To be honest (or “quite honestly”)
Let me be clear
Make no mistake
Hit the ground running
Barking up the wrong tree
If it ain’t broken why fix it
Low hanging fruit
Close, but no cigar
Between a rock and a hard place
Chopping at the bit
So he must be doing something right
No two days are the same
Like two peas in a pod
Getting there is half the fun
Dodge a bullet
It is a salt-of-the-earth kind of family
Everything happens for a reason
Nip it in the bud
Looks can be deceiving
A perfect stranger
Extraordinary measures
We are breaking new ground
It took my breath away
They made the final sacrifice
When it rains it pours
He is his own worst enemy
Roll with the punches
It walks like a duck …
The light at the end of the tunnel
The beginning of the end
Turn back the clock
He took things to the next level
Don’t let facts get in your way (or “… distract you”)
He failed to materialize
He died in the line of duty
He made a comeback
All of the above
Holocaust-survivor
A real cliff-hanger
Work hard, and play hard
Never a dull moment
Talk the talk, walk the walk
Got milk? (and “got sand?” “got snow?”, a.s.o.)
It rained cats and dogs
Friday the 13th
We are not in Kansas any more
Put the cart in front of the horse
The city of brotherly love (and all other city clichés)
The bible-belt
We will roll out the welcome mat (or “… the red carpet”)
Monkey see, monkey do
We are not out of the woods yet
They tied the knot
He popped the question
She is “expecting”
Bundle of joy
Get back on the horse
A blessing in disguise
The economy seems to be bottoming out
When the economy rebounds
Big hat, no cattle
The Dow was flat
Meet expectations
Exceed expectations (or “beat expectations”)
He met the lord (or “he met his savior”)
A wet-sari scene
He smells like a rose
He reads like an open book
We are not on the same page
Get with the program
Smell the roses (or, worse, “smell the coffee”)
Don’t get me wrong
Better late then never
You are only as old as you think you are
The American way of life
Another conspiracy theory
By his own steam
Oh, shoot!
Send a strong message (or “signal”)
Send a mixed signal (or “message”)
The truth is somewhere in between
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Let’s meet halfway
Think around the table
It’s give and take
Unemployment figures skyrocketed
A close-knit neighborhood
The community pulled together
It is a motley crew
The glass half full (or ”half empty”)
It is water under the bridge
Man-bites-dog
The pain was palpable
The event sent a chock through the community
To honor the troops
Tall, dark, and handsome
In god we trust
See you later, alligator
See you in a while, crocodile
It came back to haunt them
I do not think he is a team player
Let’s touch base tomorrow
Just to even the playing field
Well, the ball is in your court
He definitely dropped the ball on that
Keep your eyes on the ball
We have the bases covered
Deja’ vu all over again
A hole in one
A slam dunk
We are on the final stretch
Saved by the bell
Monday morning quarterback
Step up to the plate
In league of her own
Do not leave one single stone unturned
The writing on the wall
He put all his eggs in one basket
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
Thinking outside the box
A senior moment
Are we having fun yet?
Are we there yet?
I will be here to the bitter end
The last hurrah
Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic
It was a parking lot
Speed in the teens
You are on the brakes until the split
The final straw
He came back from the dead
He made partner (say “he became a partner” or “ he was promoted to partner”)
All expression of pseudo-culture, of sub-culture, of a popular ignorance, where you try to be peculiar while using platitudes, and you try to say in what you believe is a complex way something that is flat simple, in the false hope of presenting yourself as a multifaceted personality. If there were an aristocracy of language you would be just a sad plebeian commoner. De-conceptualized and oversimplified. A pathetic and squalid character indeed, full of fear and empty of brain, incapable of independent thinking. You memorize and you recall and you repeat, but you cannot formulate your own thoughts.
