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Under pressure to create (usually against a deadline), a writer
will naturally use familiar verbal patterns rather than thinking up
new ones. Inexperienced writers, however, will sometimes go further,
and string together over-used phrases or even
sentences. Consider the following example:
- When all is said and done, even a little aid can go a long way
in a country suffering from famine.
The argument is commendable, but its written expression is poor and
unoriginal. First, consider the phrase "when all is
said and done." Once, this phrase was clever and
original, but so many millions of writers and speakers have used it so
many times over so many years that the phrase has become
automatic and nearly meaningless. This type of worn-out
phrase is called a catch phrase,
and you should always avoid it in your writing, unless
you are quoting someone else: you own, original words are always more
interesting.
A particularly stale catch phrase -- especially
one which was once particularly clever -- is a cliché. In the example given above, the
phrase "a little aid can go a long way" fits into
the formula "a little *** can go a long way," seriously
lowers the quality of the writing. Essentially, a cliché
is a catch phrase which can make people groan out loud,
but the difference between the two is not that important -- just
remember that neither usually belongs in your writing.
Here are some more sample clichés and
catch phrases from students' essays:
- the dictionary defines *** as ...
- key to the future
- facing a dim future
- drive a wedge between
- starving students
- enough (for ***) to handle
- in today's world
- the *** generation
- the impossible dream
- enough to worry about without ...
- putting the cart before the horse
- a bird in the hand
- glitzy, high-tech world
There is no simple formula that you can apply to decide what is a
cliché or a catch phrase, but the more you
read, the better your sense of judgement will become. Remember,
though -- if you think that a phrase in your writing
is clever, and you know that someone has used the
phrase before, then you are best rewriting it into your
own words.
Special Considerations for Catch Phrases
While clichés and catch phrases have no
place in academic essays, there are some times of writing where you
should use pre-existing formulas. Such documents include scientific
papers, legal briefs, maintenance logs, and police reports (to name a
few) -- these are highly repetitive and largely predictable in
their language, but they are meant to convey highly technical
information in a standard, well-defined format, not to persuade or
entertain a reader -- creativity in an auditor's report, for
example, would not be highly prized.
On the other hand, catch phrases are not appropriate
in less technical areas. Journalists, especially, are under a
pressure to produce a large amount of writing quickly, and those who
are less talented or unable to meet the pressure will often end up
writing entire articles made up of over-used
catch phrases like "war-torn Bosnia," "grieving
parents," or "besieged capital."
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