Talk:Cliché/Archives/2013

'cliché" and "truism"

The words "cliché" and "truism" appear as synonyms in some references, e.g. an online thesaurus. But I seem to remember that a cliché refers to a word, phrase or idea, while a truism is more often an entire proposition or sentence. Any comments? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.250.133.23 (talk) 15:23, 20 January 2007 (UTC).

Cliche can be a word or phrase, but not an idea. In it's 20th Century meaning, it's a language formation, an expression, that comes from the tiring over use of a word or phrase. Of course cliches do describe thoughts and ideas, but the thought or idea doesn't wear out, only the particular form of expressing it earns cliche status. So the contemporary meaning has evolved to embrace over use of any expression, not just words. Art is called cliche when its whole or parts are recognized as overly familiar to those who view a lot of art. Can you see where this is going? To classify an expression as cliche is a subjective act based on one's experience or based on a group's collective experience. Critics often agree that something is cliche, but still someone not of the same experience may find the expression new or simply familiar, but not cliche. Therefore, making a list of cliches is an impossible task, just as making a list of what's ugly would be impossible. Having said all this, it may be that cliche has reached its inevitable end and become cliche itself. By the way, I'm working on its etymology because contemporary sources aren't agreeing and the explanation here mixes those contradictions in an odd way. 65.117.180.1 (talk) 15:02, 7 July 2010 (UTC)