McCleary
By INGRID MCCLEARY
Clichés have gotten a bad rap, and it's time someone defended them. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language has this to say about clichés: "An expression or idea that has become trite." Trite is defined as, "worn out; used until so common as to have lost its novelty and interest; hackneyed; stale; etc."
Wow, what a wallop. How'd you like to have this describe you? Poor clichés. I pity their lot in life.
At least Rodale's Synonym Finder is kinder. It cites "Platitude," "truism" and "maxim" before whacking clichés with "banality" and "commonplace." Rodale gives clichés a modicum of respect, as maxim means "a concisely expressed principle or rule of conduct, or a statement of general truth" and truism means "a statement, the truth of which is obvious and well-known."
The pitiful thing about clichés is that they are their own worst enemy. In order for a phrase to become clichéd, it has to be said time and time again. And people don't bother repeating something time and time again unless the words contain deep meaning or carry a fundamental truth.
The life cycle of a cliché: An arrangement of words strikes a chord, the words are repeated because they precisely express a thought, and then those words lose impact because "we've all heard it before."
In defense of clichés, Michael Crichton, the man behind such hits as Jurassic Park, Congo and television's ER, wrote in his essay compilation Travels that "Certain rules of life had been around for a long time, and life probably wasn't going to make an exception for me."
Crichton had been seeing a psychiatrist who liked to spout clichés during their sessions. As expected, Crichton dismissed these fundamental truths as trite, only to discover that many of his problems could have been solved much sooner had he only stopped to listen--and absorb the clichés.
How can you explain that sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to attain a larger goal? "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."
How better to stop a person from whining about the life they could have made? "The grass is always greener on the other side."
What's the universal definition of trouble? Murphy's law: "If something can go wrong, it will." Of course, I counter this with, "10 percent of life is what happens to you; 90 percent is how you react to it."
My mother's favorite saying when she was trying to control my wild teenage years? "Why buy the cow when the milk is free?"
Clichés do have a purpose. Perhaps the best way to use them is in teaching the young. Children, at least, are hearing them for the first time. Just as a beginning pianist learns the phrase "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef, children can learn life's lessons in easily memorized bites via the wonder of clichés.
When my son was considering an iffy baseball card trade, I advised him that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." When my daughter was fuming mad at me, I told her, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." And to my son who wanted to go to the 7-Eleven for the fourth time in a week, I said, "A fool and his money are soon parted."
Clichés provide me with succinct truths to pass on to my children. They make my job easier.
So, as a token of my appreciation, I offer a new phrase. Perhaps, in time, it will be honored as a cliché. "A lesson learned is wisdom earned."
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.