Avoidance of Cliches & Common Expressions

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Believe it or not, I once heard someone say, "like a bullet in a china shop." That one might at least make some kind of sense if the bullet was flying through the china shop, but a bullet in a china shop doesn't suggest the bullet is moving. It would do as much damage sitting on the shelf as the china itself.

"Heads up!" is used out of urgency to warn people of an impending [X Event]. If you use the actual event instead, people will spend precious moments processing the thing you said, rather than reacting and being alert... possibly avoiding being harmed by [X Event]. Efficient, useful, and safer shorthand than saying the entire warning.

DUDE...

His POINT was..that folks use dumb versions of legit expressions. They miss hear the expression, and then dont have the logic to realize they have miss heard it.

The people HE IS TALKING ABOUT mean.."for all intents and purposes". He is obviously aware of the distortion of the expression. That was his point.

Also:
Its BRIGHT eyed, and bushy tailed. Not "wide eyed".
Squirrels are bright eyed. Rats are dull eyed (and have naked tails), but are also wide eyed. Lol!

Here's one that bugs me, but which is usually said correctly: 'up at the crack of dawn.' Are they trying to imply that the sun rises like a firecracker? That it suddenly goes from midnight to noon with a loud bang? I had friends in college who called it the 'butt crack of dawn,' but they were intentionally misusing the phrase to be funny.

I think the "crack" of dawn is intended to refer to the first sliver of sunlight appearing on the horizon, like light shining through the "crack" of an opening (or ajar) door. As the door opens wider and the light floods the room, so the sunlight floods the world as dawn encroaches. Very old phraseology, pre-Electric Light Bulb.

Most cliches I don't mind so much. But some I REALLY hate, even to the point of a meltdown. These are usually the ones that are used sarcastically or meanly.

"It's not rocket science."

"What am I, chopped liver?"

"Don't you all jump up at once."

"Be quiet--this is a library" and any association of quiet with a library.

Maybe that was the intention, but it still doesn't fit.

I still have no idea what that one even means.

I also agree with jimmyboy76453 about things such as "could care less" or "all intensive purposes". There are probably more I can't think of right now.

Overall, though, I'm not bothered terribly by cliche sayings and the like. I don't tend to use them though.

I had to do a double-take to understand the mistaken humor. It is understandable that someone (including me, if I was rushed) might misread the post.

Yes I try to avoid using trite phrases and sayings. I was taught in secondary school that they weren't quite good enough for essays, and with all the social emphasis on "new is good, old is bad," I grew to avoid them, and was surprised how many people in the real world didn't seem to mind them at all. I was rather like that with jokes too, I tried to be too clever.

"Chopped liver": That goes back to the days when the body parts of cows were considered inferior in "eating value" to the chuck, round, and sirloin parts of a cow. This also applied to other farm animals raised for meat.

What would be even better is if somebody told me: "What am I....pigs ears?"