According to Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary, a cliché is “a trite expression or idea.” In case you don’t know what the word trite means, it is an adjective meaning “worn-out or stale.”
I’ve had some students ask me about idioms. “Why don’t Americans use idioms?” One girl went to New York and started talking about wanting to paint the town red and she said the people looked at her as if she belonged in an insane asylum. There is a reason why Americans don’t use idioms. It is because people use the idioms over and over so much that they become stale and boring. I know that for you guys, it’s exciting to learn the idioms in your books. That’s fine. Learn them. Get excited about them. Your other teachers love them. When writing papers for me, your American teacher, please leave idioms where they belong, in speech but not in written form. When you use idioms in descriptive works, the meaning gets lost. Be direct. Write what you are trying to say. Idioms are just fancy phrases people use to mean something else. I’d rather you use real words and phrases when writing for my class. Don’t use clichéd idioms. Write better. Write for real.
I’ve had some students ask me about idioms. “Why don’t Americans use idioms?” One girl went to New York and started talking about wanting to paint the town red and she said the people looked at her as if she belonged in an insane asylum. There is a reason why Americans don’t use idioms. It is because people use the idioms over and over so much that they become stale and boring. I know that for you guys, it’s exciting to learn the idioms in your books. That’s fine. Learn them. Get excited about them. Your other teachers love them. When writing papers for me, your American teacher, please leave idioms where they belong, in speech but not in written form. When you use idioms in descriptive works, the meaning gets lost. Be direct. Write what you are trying to say. Idioms are just fancy phrases people use to mean something else. I’d rather you use real words and phrases when writing for my class. Don’t use clichéd idioms. Write better. Write for real.
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