Please, stay away from the same old clichés

By Jaclyne Badal

The Collegian

NEXT WEEK, FRESNO State’s graduating seniors will participate in a series of convocation ceremonies. Speeches will be given; congratulations will be offered. And as surely as the sun rises in the East, too many clichés will be used.

At one of life’s defining moments, the graduates will be between a rock and a hard place as they decide to tune out the speech or suffer through a series of old chestnuts. It boggles the mind to think that four years of thought-provoking lectures will end with hours of platitudes.

Worse yet, when the graduates finish the commencement ceremonies and venture into the workforce, the offended will become the offenders.

Business graduates with new management jobs will assure bosses that they’re thinking outside the box as they hammer out the details in negotiations with clients whose expectations aren’t even in the ballpark.

Using clichés is a lot like speeding on the freeway — everyone does it, but it still isn’t right.

Rather than make a conversation more exciting, clichés bore the listener — if the listener understands the meaning at all.

In the melting pot of America, it’s unreasonable to assume that every person knows enough about pop culture to properly interpret most clichés.

English learners have enough trouble remembering that “I” comes before “E” except after “C,” or in sounding like “A” as in “neighbor” or “weigh.” Must we also make ESL students decipher the warning to steer clear of a Don Juan who wants only a quick roll in the hay with a spring chick who will fall hook, line and sinker for his charm?

It’s enough to send someone to the end of his rope.

Immigrants aren’t the only ones who suffer. Consider this: what does it mean when the fat is in the fire?

People — not necessarily people of our generation — use the phrase to say a situation has gone awry.

When meat was still roasted on a spit over an open flame, a large chunk of fat would sometimes fall into the fire. The fire would burn out of control if the attendant wasn’t paying attention.

The phrase can evoke a vivid mental image, but it’s inappropriate for use with people of our generation because most won’t understand the meaning.

The Plain English Campaign is ongoing in the United Kingdom – also the birthplace of the Apostrophe Protection Society – to encourage people to use simple language.

One speaks and writes to communicate a message. Anything that prevents the message from being understood should be avoided, as should anything that depicts the message inappropriately.

The phrases “below the belt,” “come to a head” and “pay through the nose” elicit images that are unpleasant at best. Is a conversation really improved by a reference to anatomy, dermatology and disfigurement?

This year, perhaps the best way to encourage students to work hard, pursue opportunities and chase dreams is to just say it, in language that our immigrant parents and 10-year-old brothers will understand, too.

After all, will the speeches really be any better if students are encouraged to spread their wings and reach for the stars?

I, for one, think that sort of language will only put ants in my pants.

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