'Tis (not) the season for cliches
By Doug Fisher
John McIntyre, assistant managing editor for copy desks at The Baltimore
Sun and a friend whom I respect for his erudition and expertise,
despite his claims to the contrary, has republished his
warning against seasonal cliches. Read
McIntyre's column>>
No "'tis the season," he admonishes. Drop the "jolly old
elf" and resist temptations to use "Yes, Virginia," "Grinch
steals," "Christmas came early" and other composition cockroaches
that skitter about this time of year.
Similarly, "Old Man Winter, Jack Frost and other moldy personifications
can safely be omitted." And please, none of this euphemistic "white
stuff" for snow.
But the response when copies went up in newsrooms warrants a bit more
than tossing off the old bromide: Avoid cliches like the plague.
Over at Testy Copy Editors, one person wrote, "Two section editors
responded, one saying I was a party pooper trying to take all of the fun
out of the holiday season, and one defending his right to lazy writing
on the grounds that Christmas is all about tradition."
"Funny. I did the same thing, and got the exact same response," wrote
another.
At North Carolina's News and Observer, copy editor Pam Nelson noted on
her "Triangle Grammar Guide" blog that when a cliche alert based
on McIntyre's column went out, it "prompted some staff members to
point out that such admonitions against cliches have become cliche!"
"In fact," she wrote, "some would say that what we in
the business derisively call cliches are in fact familiar cultural touchstones;
they establish a connection with readers. As one staff member said, we
find comfort in the familiar. He compared such phrases to holiday fruitcake."
And there's the problem: The fruitcake is expected to be there, but no
one wants to eat the stuff.
A cliche brings no surprise, no delight, no richness to the table. It's
just another banal, trite slice of fruitcake. Pass the vanilla ice cream
while you're at it.
In one town, we're asking people right now if they read the local paper,
and if not, why not. Boring and dull are right there among the leaders.
Yet predictable is still important to us (try changing something readers
have become accustomed to in your paper and watch the fun begin). At times
we all want a little vanilla, although we're often tempted to add some
nuts and chocolate sauce.
And the writers should be heard because theirs is, I think, a cry for
help – a recognition that when those allusions we all could share
are becoming rarer (a subject McIntyre also has written admirably about),
cliches provide the false hope of a shared experience.
Such shorthand is terribly important to writers. A well-chosen allusion
can fill a passage and the senses with meaning and memory
far beyond its few words. But tens of millions of us aren't
sitting around watching the end of "MASH" anymore and then discussing
it the next day. "The
Sopranos"? I've seen lots of references to it, but have never seen
it. I don't have HBO. "Sex and the City"? Same thing, until
it went into cable reruns. A big NFL game? A handful of
games used to be seen across most of the country. Now,
the league so slices and dices its offerings there's no
guarantee two neighbors will have seen the same game.
So cliches, as a commonly understood element, have a value, but not if
they are used when you expect them. If you initially think of a cliche
when writing, move on. Chances are everyone else has thought of it, too.
That goes double for headlines and entire classes of leads that are cliches
("You can look it up"; He leaned back in his chair," etc.).
But a cliche, reworked in a skilled writer's hands or used surprisingly
out of season, can work:
'Tis the season to ... well, OK, it isn't the season. It's July. It's
95 degrees. But it's time to think about your Christmas shopping.
I liked that.
So, yes, dear editor, don't be a Grinch and steal the cliche. Exorcise
the ghosts of cliches past, but be a jolly old coach and encourage writers
to ring in a new year of thinking about how to turn the old into something
new and unexpected.
And to all, a good night.
