C is for Cliche

I considered making this post about chocolate (I have a sweet tooth), or possibly all my favorite candies that start with the letter “C” (caramels, candy corn, Cadbury Eggs, candy canes, etc…did I mention I have a sweet tooth?). Then I thought I should write something with a bit more substance to it than the merits of sugary treats. And since I can’t have my cake and eat it too, I chose something of substance over something with sugar (for the first and probably last time in my life). I can see all of you writers out there rolling your eyes and cringing at the thought of using cliches, and cringing once more at the thought of devoting an entire blog post to them. I, on the other hand, think that cliches are cliche for a reason: they are funny and awesome and accurately sum up a situation. Here are some of the most notable cliches that I just so happen to have commentary about:

1) Misery loves company– I could not agree more with this cliche. Whenever I am feeling down about something, what often cheers me up is hearing about the pain of somebody else. Yes I sound like a terrible person, and maybe this makes me one (let’s just hope that “what goes around comes around” doesn’t apply in this case) but I truly cannot help it. I think this is why people want to watch depressing Nicholas Sparks movies when they are sad.

2) Laughter is the best medicine– Even better than someone else’s misery! I read once that if you fake a smile when you are sad you can sometimes trick your body into thinking you are happy and then soon enough you will be (fake it ’till you make it?). So if you are sad and have no laughter around, holding a pencil in your teeth will help you to fake a smile and be happy. Or you can just watch this hilarious video of an insane women who is obsessed with sponge art and gets so into it that she actually tells herself in third person to calm down. I watch it more often than I care to admit, and it never gets old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptwqeP4Feak

3) You are what you eat– Really? Today apparently I am a breakfast bar, cottage cheese, rice cakes, some dark chocolate, and a calzone. At least I am delicious? I have mixed feelings about this one. I know what it is implying but I still don’t like thinking of myself as being made up of food.

4) A horse of a different color– I love saying this one. What I don’t love is when I get blank stares in response from my peers. It saddens me when people haven’t seen the Wizard of Oz. Then they think I am the strange one. I think they need to go visit the wizard and get a clue.

5) Nothing in life is free- False. I once one a MacBook on the radio. It was very much free and made me feel pretty bad-ass. Not that it took any skill to win, but still, go me! Other than this though, yeah pretty much nothing is free.

6) Sight for sore eyes– Growing up I had only ever heard this cliche used sarcastically. As a result I thought it had the opposite meaning. While I am still in favor of using sarcasm around children (it is an important skill for them to learn!) just beware it might embarrass them when they are in their twenties and learn they had been misusing a phrase their entire life.

7) You catch more flies with honey– No thanks, I don’t want any flies. I have more than enough as it is.

8) The early bird catches the worm– I like to think that the night owl actually gets the worm before the early bird even wakes up. Then that owl gets to sleep all day with a full belly while the early bird fights off the other early birds. Sounds great to me. I am such a night owl that I am up way past my bedtime and need to go to sleep though now, so alas I am done writing for today.

Do you have any notable cliches you want to discuss? Clearly I would love to hear about them. Please don’t wait for pigs to fly!

 

J