How can I quit using overused words and phrases?

December 28, 2008 12:19 PM

How can I avoid using common, cliché words and phrases in my speech and writing, and come up with better ones?

Orwell says, "Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print." (Politics and the English Language) He applies it to the "buzz phrases" of his time: the sensational war rhetoric like "jackboot" and "hammer and anvil", and others like "toe the line" and "melting pot". He says that these common figures of speech are already prefabricated so that the author doesn't have to even think about what he is writing. As a result, most journalistic writing has become boring and contrived, and full of tired imagery.

I'd like to take this even further than Orwell and eliminate normal, yet overused phrases from my vocabulary. I realized this a couple of days ago when I was reading a book and the author said that he had "no quarrel with" certain people who believed differently about his ideas. It was the tiniest thing, but it caught my attention, because if I am expressing approval or indifference, I will ALWAYS use some form of "[to have] no problem with". Always. "I have no problem with you taking off early this afternoon." "If his car is in the shop, I don't have a problem with him using mine." I also tend to exaggerate a lot, using words like "totally" or "completely" to express emphasis on my part ("he was completely wrong to do that"). Since these are also common expressions, it's understood that I am not referring to wholeness or completeness — but it still bugs me because I say them a lot.

I guess I would like to become more active and deliberate in my word choice. I would like to incorporate into my vocabulary more phrases like "no quarrel" — words that catch people's attention, even slightly, because they are just a little bit more picturesque. I want to put more a little more thought into what I say (or write), so that people have to put a little more thought into listening (or reading).

And in all of this, I want to stay interesting: I don't want to replace x with y so that "no quarrel with" to become the new "no problem with"; I want a larger bank of words to draw from. I also don't want to sound formal or dry. I have more of a journalistic style of writing, in that I don't use complex sentence structures or unnecessarily big words. I want to preserve the style but make it more unique and compelling.

I need to do three things: identify these phrases; come up with more creative alternates; and engage my mind more when I talk (or write) so I can use them. How can I accomplish these? Good books on the topic, past MeFi posts, resources for interesting phrases... anything! Thanks!

posted by relucent to writing & language (10 comments total)

My advice would be to read, read, read. And not newspapers and pulp fiction, but poetry and literature. Read stuff that has the style you would like to emulate. Read blogs like an eudaemonist, and when you see words that you don't know, look them up. Write regularly, and deliberately try different styles. Practice.
posted by Dr. Send at 12:33 PM on December 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think when you do steps one and two, step three will start to kick in over time.

I would say to not worry about it during the draft stage, or you will get bogged down and disturb your flow. After the draft, go through and circle all the phrases you want to replace, then look for/think of alternatives. Eventually, you will train your brain to identify and replace these phrases on the fly.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 12:36 PM on December 28, 2008

There's nothing wrong with phatic speech in context: essays are meant to be tight, conversations less so. In online contexts, the distinctions between spoken and written language can blur to give the effect of "written conversation", but it all comes down to tone.

Gussying up your vocabulary for those phatic bits, though, can make you sound like you're visiting from another century. They're meant to be frictionless, so don't add friction. Two tips via Samuel Johnson: clear your mind of cant; and when you come across a passage of writing that is exceptionally fine, strike it out.
posted by holgate at 12:57 PM on December 28, 2008

"...the author doesn't have to even think about what he is writing..." Think, think, think.

And read, read, read.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:18 PM on December 28, 2008

I too have been trying to brush these out of my writing as much as possible. That way when they're include, I know it's deliberate.

I don't know what kind of writing you do, but you definitely need to get used to working in drafts. I have trained myself to where I never send so much as an email, even just two or three lines, without reading back over it at least twice. This has REALLY helped me keep from saying things I don't mean, especially professionally, since most of my communique with my employers is via email. And when I'm writing for myself, I will go back and scrub and polish over and over. Get used to the idea that nothing you write is fit for others' eyes until your own have looked at it from all sides.
posted by hermitosis at 2:28 PM on December 28, 2008

Yep, I agree. Read, read, read, especially literature and literary non-fiction. When you find something particularly "active" or interesting, take a minute to analyze it, and notice what it is about it that you like. Really, the more you expose yourself to good, interesting writing, the more it will seep in and start livening up your own sensibilities.

I came across some good advice along these lines once that suggested steeping yourself in various wide-ranging fields to learn the language of those fields: for example, spend a few weeks learning a lot about sailing and boating, then spend a few weeks reading about medicine, then spend a few weeks learning about construction and carpentry. Often, specific fields will have their own rich vocabulary, and when you understand what all those words mean, you can use them in a metaphorical way in your own writing. The apt, unexpected metaphor goes a long way in making for interesting writing, IMHO.

I agree with Fuzzy Skinner too--don't be too worried about the cliche thing while you're writing. That's why the Good Lord invented editing, after all! By the same token, when you're writing, you can play around and try to invent new turns of phrase to express yourself. Even if most of what you come up with is silly nonsense and you end up throwing it all out, you'll still be training yourself to think creatively and not to keep reaching for the same old phrases every time.

Just keeping feeding and exercising your brain, and you can easily expand your writing style. Have fun!
posted by aka burlap at 2:38 PM on December 28, 2008

And in all of this, I want to stay interesting: I don't want to replace x with y so that "no quarrel with" to become the new "no problem with"; I want a larger bank of words to draw from. I also don't want to sound formal or dry. I have more of a journalistic style of writing, in that I don't use complex sentence structures or unnecessarily big words. I want to preserve the style but make it more unique and compelling.

This is a very admirable goal. I really dislike reading someone's writing, and concluding, "They must read a lot of Newsweek and Time."

Let me recommend a book that I think addresses your concern, more theoretically. It was out of print for a long time, which is recently back in print: Richard Lanham's Style: An Anti-Textbook. I have pushed this book on people for years, because I think it takes a very important position that play and delight are important elements of language. To that end, he defends the use of jargon, eccentricity, and the cultivation of stylized language for the sheer pleasure of it.
posted by jayder at 2:39 PM on December 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

After I read "Politics and the English Language," I rigged up a cliche finder bookmarklet based on the Passivator that highlights overused words and phrases in bright orange. It flags the examples in Orwell's essay, some of the worst offenders from "Tense Present," and a few other words and phrases gleaned from lists of cliches and management-speak.

It's a very crude tool¹, and like the Passivator, it's no substitute for Real Writing Knowledge. It tends to flag too many words, so it's also no substitute for careful editing. But it has been very useful for cleaning up my online writing.

[1] Read: Written by a guy who knows no javascript and just did a bunch of copy-pasting. Does anyone smart want to clean it up?
posted by ecmendenhall at 3:26 PM on December 28, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

I globally agree with the 'think think' and 'read read' comments, but the real problem is what do do with all the thinking and reading.

- 'Think think' is a nice start, but the (first) key lies in actually wanting to express something: not merely aptly but in a truly compact, elegant, even thought-provoking way. Words are only 'better' if they do better justice to the thought they want to express. Don't just 'think'. Recognize your thoughts and try to express them in a manner that honors them.

Nobody I know starts out at that level. The main work is in the revision of various drafts.
- 'Read read' might indeed sharpen your sense of good prose and help you with your text revision - but a good proofreader is better. You'll have to find out who of your friends or acquaintances wants to do this work, and who is good. You should offer similar help to your friends. Very few people who aim at excellent writing succeed without third party help. The (second) key, then, lies in your evaluation of what these people say.
posted by Namlit at 4:39 PM on December 28, 2008

If you realize you've used a word or phrase you don't like, don't replace the word or phrase - start over from the beginning of the paragraph.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:40 PM on December 28, 2008