Dakota Beacon

The English language moves and lives and has its being as a fascinating and engaging language. Its construction, usage, and evolution offer hours for etiological investigation. So why abuse our language when it is possible to express oneself quite precisely in fine nuanced English? Good question. The answer (drumroll please…) to follow.

Consider clichés. A good dictionary definition of a cliché is a trite stereotyped phrase or term that attempts to express a popular thought or idea, but which has lost its originality through overuse. Such phrases and terms are reduced to mere bromides and platitudes.

Like idioms that have no literal meaning, clichés are expressions that do not lend substance to the meaning of a sentence. They are distinct from jargon which usually forms a specialized language for technical use.

Clichés become rhetorical crutches when strung throughout conversation. Speaker and listener alike are usually comatose to the mind-numbing effect of uninspired clichéd rhetoric. Conversations drone on.

Clichés take on idiomatic meanings derived from ordinary speech. Eventually they die and are replaced with more contemporary expressions.

So, why use clichés? Maybe from habit. Maybe from laziness. Either way, they are verbal expressions reflecting pop culture. They tend to say little, but they sound good. Complex issues are reduced to rational-sounding blather by use of clichés.

Clichés are a shorthand means of communication. They can mean a thousand things, or they can mean nothing. Frequently, they serve as fillers signifying little and occupying time and space in conversation.

When not suffering poor or lazy thinking, clichés exist at their most sinister when they dismiss dissent or opposition.

Clichés may take the form of butchered platitudes as in “A doctor a day keeps illness away.” Mixed clichés, like mixed metaphors, grate on the brain. They usually result from misunderstanding the meaning of the expression in the first place. You never want to “sign your own death knell.” You just might “get your dandruff up.” And, surely, “violence is not as American as apple pie.”

On the other hand, you could be “busy as a bee” while “working like a dog.”

Here are some common clichés heard in everyday conversation together with MY glib and simplistic renderings.

            “Moving forward...” Let’s not talk about it anymore. Change the subject.

            “Do the right thing...” Let’s do what I think is best.

            “Send a message...” Why send a message? Just talk straight and say what you mean.

            “On steroids...” Exaggerated, bigger than life. President Biden’s immigration policy amounts to illegal alien access to the United States on steroids.

            “Sweet!” A sugary expletive.

            “It’s for the children...” A nonsensical platitude uttered by politicians and bureaucrats evoking sympathy for their cause. Not used much since the massive growth of the national debt our kids will inherit. Debt bequeathed to our kids becomes a form of child abuse.

            “Foot in the door...” An initiation of something new, like the federal takeover of health care, banking, and people’s lives in general. Similar to “camel’s nose under the tent.”

            “Empower...” A faux redistribution of ability.

            “Going green...” More like “slowing down and going brown” when fossil fuels are banned.

            “Carbon footprint...” Idiotic word usage seriously conveyed by radical environmentalists and politicians but not so laughable as they stomp on the private sector.

            “You got it...” Thanks for embracing my point of view.

            “Cowboy...” An independent, forthright, honorable guy -- except when liberals refer derisively to any Republican president.

            “Make a difference...” An inane filler-term signifying nothing. Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung all made a difference. Alternatively, doing nothing, as opposed to doing something, can also make a difference.

            “Racist...” A loose but effective epithet, warranted or not, used to silence the opposition or shut down honest conversation. Overused banality.

            “White Supremacist…” Another epithetical smear in a name-calling contest. Does anyone personally know another individual who advocates and works toward the domination of a so-called “white” race over others? Come to think of it, white is a color, not a race.

            “You know what I’m saying (or mean)?” Agree with me even though you are not listening.

Clichéd rhetoric sounds like a lame and ragged attempt at normal, verbal communication.

Listen carefully to conversations around you. Better still, listen to the best perpetuators of all, media pundits and Hollywood types, and count their clichés.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).