I Mean What I Say and I Say What I Mean . . . Except When I Don’t

Clichés can be good or they can be really bad. Case in point, the one cliché that has stood the test of time and is a mere one word

long is, “cool.” Other clichés include, “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” which is something the majority of people do when purchasing a novel.

 “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Taking a moment to think about this saying makes it clear that the cliché fails to produce an overabundance of sense. If I’m dead, then game over. If I manage to survive this harrowing experience, I’ll probably remain skittish of whatever it was that nearly took my life.

“Innocent until proven guilty.” We all know that once you’re accused, you are automatically guilty in the eyes of the people. So, we might as well skip the middle man and stamp guilty on the suspect’s forehead.

I try to shy away from many of the new clichés that jump out every so often, especially in my writing. Some of the most notorious being, “My bad” . . . “What up” . . .  and one of the most overused, “Let’s do this.”

All in all, one that certainly rings true, yet if taken literally leaves one of two sides at a severe deficit, is “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

I realize that clichés have literal and alternate meanings; however, it’s a lot more fun bringing them to you as I have . . . still I can’t imagine bringing a pen to a sword fight!