posted
If I update the cliché: "It's raining cats and dogs" to: "It's raining Yanks and Frogs", does it still count as a cliché?
Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004
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If you change it to "Yanks and frogs", you're describing a Stephen King short story.
Cliche is a fairly new crepe restaurant that opened up kitty-corner from Sears Tower. I wonder if the wners had any idea what cliche means LOL.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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"1. A trite or overused expression or idea: "Even while the phrase was degenerating to cliché in ordinary public use . . . scholars were giving it increasing attention" (Anthony Brandt). 2. A person or character whose behavior is predictable or superficial: "There is a young explorer . . . who turns out not to be quite the cliche expected" (John Crowley)"
Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004
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The only reason the expression has any resonance at all is due to the similarity in sound to the original expression, so it is still a cliché. In science fiction writing, you sometimes see people attempt to get around clichés by creating "new" clichés in this manner. In the end, though, everybody knows what the writer really meant, so it is still trite. All this technique serves to do is break the spell by taking the reader out of the story, as he or she says, "Huh. Like 'cats and dogs.' I get it. Cute."
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
On the contrary, a Brit in WWII England might very well complain "It's raining Yanks and Frogs." in reference to American and FreeFrench troops stationed there
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