Re: Most annoying word--what's a cliche, anyway?

[Peter Sturgeon <prsturgeon -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Kathy Nemaric <kjnresearch -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> When I worked at a dot com, the content managers had to pay a 25-cent
> fine for every cliche they used

What makes it a cliche? By many definitions, being "overused."

Many years ago, teaching a whole classroom of new Canadians, I handed
out a list of cliches for them to avoid in their writing. They had
never heard most of them before, and were mightily amused by some.

So how do you determine, as a writer, that something is already
cliched?

Is it like watching "Fashion File"? Do they come back into style
eventually, if we stop oversuing them?

I guess it's only a cliche if its ubiquitous:)

Peter Sturgeon
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content 
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l 

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.