Welcome to Cliche Thursday, where each week we deconstruct 5 expressions that we’ve all become a little too familiar with and ask you for some of your own least favorites.
Here we go…
“When push comes to shove” – It’s like a cute little story that you forgot to finish.
“One day when push came to shove’s house, they had a big fight because neither of them wanted to be the one who sat on the swing.
The End.”
And when you think about it, is there really that big of a distinction between pushing and shoving?
I’d argue the words are interchangeable, and If you don’t agree I might push you
…and if you still don’t agree then I might even shove you.
“Nose to the grindstone” – Such a bloody, gruesome, painful way to say you’re gonna work hard.
Although with a nose like mine, losing an inch or two off the ole schnoz might not be a bad idea.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat” – Nope, pretty sure there’s just one.
Take a knife or some other sharp blade and peel the skin away from it’s carcass.
That’s it. That’s the list.
“Vanish into thin air” – The word ‘thin’ must have had a great agent to have received placement in this expression.
I mean, other than this cliché and any sporting event played in Denver, when was the last time you described air as thin?
Besides, vanishing into the air is impressive enough, does it really matter if it’s thin or not?
“I’ll make him cry uncle” – Because the first thing I think of when I’m in a lot of pain and want someone to stop hurting me is my father’s brother.
What About You: Any expressions chapping your hide?
Add them to the list so we can skewer them in the coming weeks.
Posted by Bryan AllainTags: Cliche Thursday
1) Busier Than A One Armed Paper Hanger
2) Needless To Say
3) Cat Got Your Tongue?
4) Dumb As A Stump
5) Pooped On A Stump And Hatched By The Sun
As someone who dissected a cat for a class in college, I can tell you that there IS, in fact, more than one way to skin a cat. For our purposes, there were two. Yes, both employed the basic method you described above, but they started at different points on the kitty’s anatomy and it makes all the difference in the world (cliche alert!) which one you use depending on your reasons for said skinning.
I know a lady who didn’t really understand the phrase “when push comes to shove.” Instead, she would say “when push comes to shovel.” It only makes slightly more sense, but I thought it was brilliant.
Case of the Mondays
I don’t know if you have ever done this one before but here is my take…
Why is it that when you come into work on Monday and you aren’t in the same wonderful mood as everyone, you have a “Case of the Mondays.” Why can’t you have a case of the “I just had a great weekend and the last place on the earth I want to be is here or a case of the “it’s really early and I don’t want to converse with you” or a case of the “I left early on Friday and now I have a ton of stuff to catch up on.”
The other take on this is if having a case of the Mondays was an actual illness, why would someone carelessly and rudely reference your state of mood by a disease you have. If I come into work, I have pale face, I’m itching all over and had a huge rash, who in their right mind would come up to me and say, “Oh, looks like someone has a case of the Shingles”. That would be ridiculous.
I don’t give a rat’s butt about cliche Thursday!
I had a friend who used to think that the cliche Nip It In the Bud was actually Nick it in the butt. This makes me wonder if we need to renovate these cliches into other things that they sound like, because I like nick it in the butt so much better.
I always wondered what “cosh” was and why you would want to “throw it into the wind”. It never made sense to me. Then one day I finally realized that sometimes you want to “throw caution to the wind”. That made a lot more sense…but a bit riskier than just throwing your common everyday cosh into the wind. That’s so much safer.
I’m curious about someone being the “spitting image” of someone else.
Today I caught myself saying “people were buying it ‘like it was going out of style.’” Then I sent myself to the corner for a time-out for saying something so cliche. BESIDES, who wants to buy stuff that’s going out of style?
Cute as a button… now don’t get me wrong I’ve got nothing against buttons but can you tell me have you really ever seen a ‘cute’ button… ok so there are buttons the shape of teddy bears and ponies etc, and sure, some of them may be considered ‘cute’ but then surely the saying will be “cute as a cute button”… because all the buttons in the world just aren’t that cute!
someone said to me “it’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife” a saying made popular again by that Canadian songwriter… and it made me think, what are you doing with 10,000 spoons? and if you had that many spoons would finding a knife REALLY be the problem?? and then it all depends on what you are wanting to use the knife for… is it just to push food onto your spoon, because surely you could use another spoon to do that… I mean you’ve got 10,000 spoons lets get creative… would anyone really care that you sharpened one to cut your food?