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Ride the Cliche

We hear cliches everyday but we rarely stop and wonder where they come from. For me, I try to avoid the cliches that I don't know what they really mean. Of course, the meanings are open to interpretation but there usually is a consensus. To try and find out their origins/meanings, I often turn to this site.

GoEnglish.com doesn't have every cliche I've wondered about ("oil and water" and "let it roll off your back like water on a duck" are just some of them), but it has plenty. I know a lot of this is "duh" for a lot of people, but for someone that wants to know specifics about these phrases, I seek clarity from more sources.

"Between a rock and a hard place" is one of those phrases I never really understood until recently. I kept having this visual of being stuck between rock formations on a beach and not having a way to get out. A rock is a hard place so what makes it sound like there is a difference between a rock and a hard place? I just say, "I'm stuck and don't know what to do" instead.

Then there is the one about having a "chip on your shoulder." After reading GoEnglish's explanation of it (To start a fight, men used to put chips of wood on their shoulder and challenge others to "try to knock it off"), I still don't understand. When was the last time you saw somebody with a piece of wood on his/her shoulder, egging people on to knock it off? I always thought that having a chip on your shoulder meant that you had a wound that never fully healed (or not at all) and you were still bitter about what caused that wound.

My point is this: if I don't understand a colloquialism, I try not to say it. There are just one too many phrases that come from a different time and approach. I'm not about to jump on someone's case if he/she uses one, but don't expect me to talk about setting bridges on fire, mixing oil with water or analyzing the the shades of greeness of someone else's grass.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Eric. I enjoyed this article.

I noticed a few "colloquialisms" that you used:

stop and wonder
open to interpretation
egging people on
one too many
jump on someone's case

Adam

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