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Clichés and idioms should generally be avoided in favor of direct, literal expressions. Lion's share is often misunderstood; instead use a term such as all, most, two-thirds, or whatever matches the context. The tip of the iceberg should be reserved for discussions of icebergs.
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Clichés often are employed for comedic effect, typically in fiction. Most phrases now considered clichéd originally were regarded as striking but have lost their force through overuse. [ 5 ] The French poet Gérard de Nerval once said, "The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile."
According to a new survey, there are words that are so overused they have lost meaning in the workplace.
Dispel any myths and avoid clichés like "Pull yourself together" and "It's not as bad as you think." Be patient; even if someone's not ready to talk, it may help them to know you're available.
Due to overuse, editors are asked to avoid adding the following text strings to Wikipedia's database: "more heat than light" "a solution in search of a problem" "witch hunt" "mob" with or without "pitchforks" and/or "torches" "pound of flesh" "[other page] is that way" "beyond the pale" "net positive"/"net negative"
Here, my approach was to say we should drop them because they're trite, unhelpful clichés, but not because they're against civility policies. Like "you're killing me!" That's technically an accusation that you have engaged in criminal conduct. Totally sanctionable! But not really.
The Southern California Law Review, Volume 51, Part 1, describes the use of such clichés as "to capture the vehicles of thought and communication; 'Doctrine over reality' (which includes the rewriting of history and reinterpretation of one's past)" and as a property of "ideological totalists". [7]