I’m asking this because I have an interesting scene in my mind to take place during the funeral in my book, but it would require it to be raining (more so, the people need to have umbrellas). Later in the story, a storm sweeps through the neighborhood, so do you think it would be less cliche for the character to just visit the grave when it’s raining?

Read more on Independent Online

â??The early bird catches the worm.â?

â??Win-win situation.â?

â??Thinking outside the box.â?

â??Bring out the â??Aâ?? game.â?

You have certainly heard all of these phrases before. They are all famous and long-lasting business clichés. In addition, they all have their own place in the business world. They can be wonderful motivators to use in a board meeting. You might throw one out there to describe an employeeâ??s performance in understandable terms. To be sure, there are uses for these, and all the other business clichés.

However, they are definitely not for use in your advertising campaign!

Business clichés are better off without being used in your advertisements. They can certainly muddle the things you would like to convey to your target market.

Do not make the mistake of using clichés in your advertising. It is tempting, I know, because they are so readily available, and you see them in a lot of advertising already. Nevertheless, think about it for a second. Clichés are so common that when a customer hears one, they do not really register. They hear the â??clichéâ?, but they do not hear what you are trying to tell them. Your message gets lost behind the cliché.

Consider the following example. I am going to write the same simple, text ad twice. The only difference will be in the headline.

A Cut above the Rest!

At Anybusiness, we pride ourselves on providing quality commercial color printing for your company. No matter what your needs, we will meet them with expert precision. No other commercial color printer can guarantee you high quality service and outstanding success like Anybusiness.

Expert Commercial Color Printing Done Your Way!

At Anybusiness, we pride ourselves on providing high quality commercial color printing for your company. No matter what your needs, we will meet them with expert precision. No other commercial color printer can guarantee you high quality service and outstanding success like Anybusiness.

Now, because you knew what I was doing, you may have read the entire ad. However, most customers will not. They will see the headline, which is a tired old cliché in the case of the first ad, and they will move on to something else. Clichés just do not grab the readers (or viewers) attention.

By contrast, in the second ad there was some interesting information provided in the heading. Imagine if your company was searching the newspaper for a commercial printer. You would probably never stop to read the first ad since you have no idea that it is advertising or promoting a commercial color printer. The second ad, however, tells you right in the heading what the ad is promoting, and then the ad itself tells you more specifics.

There is no better way to kill your ad campaign than by using a cliché in your headline. So do not use clichés in your ads. In addition, put some catchy, relevant information in your headings and sub headings.

For example, the Japanese language has loaned a number of words to English, including honcho, karaoke, ninja, rickshaw, soy and tofu. Denim, deja vu, bistro, elite, prude, pate, cigarette, lingerie, debut and village are just a few of the many words originating from French. From German we borrowed aspirin, kindergarten, sauerkraut, deli, diesel, hamburger and kitsch. Words borrowed from the Turkish language include caftan, caviar, tulip, lackey and yoghurt! Cargo, canary, cannibal, hammock, patio, vanilla, tobacco and tango are just a small number of words that influenced the English language to make it what it is today: rich with linguistic borrowings from various cultures and languages. 

Borrowing is a result of cultural contact between two languages or cultures. It can go in both directions between the two languages in contact.

Without looking too deeply into reasons why some things are called what they are, here is a collection of cultural cliches, or proverbs, sayings and quotes containing culture, language or ethnic background. The challenge is to see how many more you can add. The aim is to get a hundred or more, and let’s see if we can get some from other languages and cultures. All contributions welcome.

Double Dutch Polish sausage American pie Turkish coffee Chinese burn Bulgarian feta Spanish donut Greek salad Italian mafia English food French kiss Mexican standoff Lebanese bread Russian roulette Belgian chocolate Swiss bank German bread Chinese whispers Vietnamese pancake Indian giver

Read more on USA Today