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==Origin==
==Origin==
The word is borrowed from [[French language|French]]. In printing, a cliché was a [[printing plate]] cast from [[movable type]]. This is also called a [[stereotype (printing)|stereotype]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Museum of Printing: Collection|url=http://www.museumofprinting.org/Collection.html|publisher=The Museum of Printing|accessdate=13 March 2009}}</ref> When letters were set one at a time, it made sense to cast a phrase used repeatedly as a single slug of metal. "Cliché" came to mean such a ready-made phrase. Many authorities say that the French word "cliché" comes from the sound made when the molten stereotyping metal is poured onto the matrix to make a printing plate,<ref name=AHD>{{cite book | chapter = cliche | year = n.d | title = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition | url = http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cliche | accessdate = 2010-10-21}}</ref><ref name=MW>{{cite book | chapter = cliché | title = Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary | year = 2010 | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cliche | accessdate = 2010-21-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Partridge | first = Eric | year = 1966 | title = Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=-2UYAAAAIAAJ&q=cliche#search_anchor | accessdate = 2012-07-11}}</ref> including the statement that it is a variant of <i>cliquer</i>, "to click",<ref>{{cite web | title = cliché, n | date = June 2012 | work = OED Online | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://learn.sfcc.edu:2104/view/Entry/34264 | accessdate = 2012-07-12}}</ref> though some express doubt.<ref>{{cite web | last = Harper | first = Douglas | title = cliche | work = Online Etymology Dictionary | publisher = Macmillan | page = 103 | url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cliche&allowed_in_frame=0 | accessdate = 2010-10-21}}</ref><ref name=RHUD>{{cite book | title = Dictionary.com Unabridged | chapter = cliché | year = n.d | url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cliche | accessdate = 2010-21-2}}</ref>
The word is borrowed from [[French language|French]]. In printing, a cliché was a [[printing plate]] cast from [[movable type]]. This is also called a [[stereotype (printing)|stereotype]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Museum of Printing: Collection|url=http://www.museumofprinting.org/Collection.html|publisher=The Museum of Printing|accessdate=13 March 2009}}</ref> When letters were set one at a time, it made sense to cast a phrase used repeatedly as a single slug of metal. "Cliché" came to mean such a ready-made phrase. Many authorities say that the French word "cliché" comes from the sound made when the molten stereotyping metal is poured onto the matrix to make a printing plate,<ref name=AHD>{{cite book | chapter = cliche | year = n.d | title = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition | url = http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/cliche | accessdate = 2010-10-21}}</ref><ref name=MW>{{cite book | chapter = cliché | title = Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary | year = 2010 | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cliche | accessdate = 2010-21-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Partridge | first = Eric | year = 1966 | title = Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=-2UYAAAAIAAJ&q=cliche#search_anchor | accessdate = 2012-07-11}}</ref> including the statement that it is a variant of ''cliquer'', "to click",<ref>{{cite web | title = cliché, n | date = June 2012 | work = OED Online | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://learn.sfcc.edu:2104/view/Entry/34264 | accessdate = 2012-07-12}}</ref> though some express doubt.<ref>{{cite web | last = Harper | first = Douglas | title = cliche | work = Online Etymology Dictionary | publisher = Macmillan | page = 103 | url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cliche&allowed_in_frame=0 | accessdate = 2010-10-21}}</ref><ref name=RHUD>{{cite book | title = Dictionary.com Unabridged | chapter = cliché | year = n.d | url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cliche | accessdate = 2010-21-2}}</ref>


==Usage==
==Usage==
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==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=On Clichés: The Supersedure of Meaning by Function in Modernity|publisher=Routledge|year=1979|isbn=0-7100-0186-X|isbn13=9780710001863|author=Anton C. Zijderveld}}
* {{cite book|title=On Clichés: The Supersedure of Meaning by Function in Modernity|publisher=Routledge|year=1979|isbn=0-7100-0186-X|isbn=9780710001863|author=Anton C. Zijderveld}}
* {{cite book|title=The Dialect of the Tribe|author=Margery Sabin|chapter=The Life of English Idiom, the Laws of French Cliché|pages=10&ndash;25|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=1987|isbn=0-19-504153-4|isbn13=9780195041538}}
* {{cite book|title=The Dialect of the Tribe|author=Margery Sabin|chapter=The Life of English Idiom, the Laws of French Cliché|pages=10&ndash;25|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=1987|isbn=0-19-504153-4|isbn=9780195041538}}
* {{cite journal|journal=Poetics Today|volume=21|issue=3|date=Summer 2000|author=Veronique Traverso and Denise Pessah|title=Stereotypes et cliches: Langue, discours, societe|pages=463&ndash;465|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.1215/03335372-21-2-463}}
* {{cite journal|journal=Poetics Today|volume=21|issue=3|date=Summer 2000|author=Veronique Traverso and Denise Pessah|title=Stereotypes et cliches: Langue, discours, societe|pages=463&ndash;465|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.1215/03335372-21-2-463}}
* {{cite journal|title="Everybody Has Their Own Ideas": Responding to Cliche in Student Writing|jstor=358494|author=Skorczewski, Dawn|journal=College Composition and Communication|volume=52|issue=2|pages=220&ndash;239|date=December 2000|doi=10.2307/358494}}
* {{cite journal|title="Everybody Has Their Own Ideas": Responding to Cliche in Student Writing|jstor=358494|author=Skorczewski, Dawn|journal=College Composition and Communication|volume=52|issue=2|pages=220&ndash;239|date=December 2000|doi=10.2307/358494}}

Revision as of 04:34, 9 September 2012

Template:Other uses2

"Our Three-Volume Novel at a Glance", a cartoon by Priestman Atkinson, from the Punch Almanack for 1885 (which would have been published in late 1884). This is a jocular look at some clichéd expressions in the popular literature of the time.

A cliché or cliche (UK: /ˈkliːʃeɪ/ or US: /klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning, referring to any expression imposed by conventionalized linguistic usage. The term is frequently used in modern culture for an action or idea which is expected or predictable, based on a prior event. Typically a pejorative, "clichés" are not always false or inaccurate; a cliché may or may not be true.[1] Some are stereotypes, but some are simply truisms and facts.[2] Clichés are often employed for comic effect, typically in fiction.

Most phrases now considered clichéd were originally regarded as striking, but lost their force through overuse.[3] In this connection, David Mason and John Frederick Nims cite a particularly harsh judgement by Salvador Dalí: "The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot."[4] Ironically, in making this statement, Dalí was appropriating the words of French poet Gérard de Nerval: "The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile."[5]

A cliché is often a vivid depiction of an abstraction that relies upon analogy or exaggeration for effect, often drawn from everyday experience. Used sparingly, they may succeed. However, cliché in writing or speech is generally considered a mark of inexperience or unoriginality.

Origin

The word is borrowed from French. In printing, a cliché was a printing plate cast from movable type. This is also called a stereotype.[6] When letters were set one at a time, it made sense to cast a phrase used repeatedly as a single slug of metal. "Cliché" came to mean such a ready-made phrase. Many authorities say that the French word "cliché" comes from the sound made when the molten stereotyping metal is poured onto the matrix to make a printing plate,[7][8][9] including the statement that it is a variant of cliquer, "to click",[10] though some express doubt.[11][12]

Usage

Using a feature such as an overhanging branch to frame a nature scene can be a visual cliché.[13]

Cliché is a noun that is also used as an adjective,[8][12] although some dictionaries do not recognize the adjectival sense.[7][14] All dictionaries consulted recognize a derived adjective with the same meaning, clichéd[7][12][8][14] or cliché'd.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Short Story Library Thick skin and writing, cliché, but true - Published By Casey Quinn • May 10th, 2009 • Category: Casey's Corner
  2. ^ The Free Dictionary - Cliche
  3. ^ Mason, David; Nims, John Frederick (1999). Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry. McGraw-Hill. pp. 126–127. ISBN 0-07-303180-1.
  4. ^ Dalí, Salvador (1968). "Preface". In Pierre Cabanne (ed.). Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp (1987 ed.). Da Capo Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-306-80303-8.
  5. ^ Biography and Quotations of Gérard de Nerval
  6. ^ "The Museum of Printing: Collection". The Museum of Printing. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  7. ^ a b c "cliche". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. n.d. Retrieved 2010-10-21. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  8. ^ a b c "cliché". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Retrieved 2010-21-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966). Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
  10. ^ "cliché, n". OED Online. Oxford University Press. June 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  11. ^ Harper, Douglas. "cliche". Online Etymology Dictionary. Macmillan. p. 103. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  12. ^ a b c "cliché". Dictionary.com Unabridged. n.d. Retrieved 2010-21-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ Freeman, Michael (2004). Nature and Landscape Photography. Lark Books. p. 36. ISBN 1-57990-545-5. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  14. ^ a b c Brown, Lesley, editor (1993). "cliché". New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861271-0. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

  • Anton C. Zijderveld (1979). On Clichés: The Supersedure of Meaning by Function in Modernity. Routledge. ISBN 9780710001863.
  • Margery Sabin (1987). "The Life of English Idiom, the Laws of French Cliché". The Dialect of the Tribe. Oxford University Press US. pp. 10–25. ISBN 9780195041538.
  • Veronique Traverso and Denise Pessah (Summer 2000). "Stereotypes et cliches: Langue, discours, societe". Poetics Today. 21 (3). Duke University Press: 463–465. doi:10.1215/03335372-21-2-463.
  • Skorczewski, Dawn (December 2000). ""Everybody Has Their Own Ideas": Responding to Cliche in Student Writing". College Composition and Communication. 52 (2): 220–239. doi:10.2307/358494. JSTOR 358494.
  • Ruth Amossy and Chutiya Terese Lyons (1982). "The Cliché in the Reading Process". SubStance. 11 (2.35). University of Wisconsin Press: 34–45. doi:10.2307/3684023. JSTOR 3684023.
  • Sullivan, Frank (1947) [1938]. "The Cliche Expert Testifies as a Roosevelt Hater". In Crane (ed.). The Roosevelt Era. New York: Boni and Gaer. pp. 237–242. OCLC 275967. Mr. Arbuthnot: No sir! Nobody is going to tell me how to run my business. Q: Mr. Arbuthnot, you sound like a Roosevelt hater. A: I certainly am. Q: In that case, perhaps you could give us an idea of some of the cliches your set is in the habit of using in speaking of Mr. Roosevelt ... {{cite book}}: |editor2-first= missing |editor2-last= (help)
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