Sunday, October 23, 2005

Cliché: jump down your throat

Meaning: seriously get on your case
Rewrite 1: jump on your back
Rewrite 2:
swing at your head like a piñata
Rewrite 3: beat on you like a hammer on an anvil
Rewrite 4: throw your head like a bowling ball

Comment: This one was harder to rewrite than I thought it would be. There are probably lots of parts of the body to "jump on" when you want to show your anger, but most such metaphors sound as much like physical abuse as examples of how far you’re willing to go to show someone you’re serious about something.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:

Cliché Challenge by The Progressive Review tracks the number of references on Google.com for various clichés.

2 comments:

Benoit M said...

Isn't "like a hammer on an anvil" itself a cliché?

Booksville Bookclub said...

Hi Benoit M. I did a little research and didn't find it in any references. It does sound like it could have been, however. Good question!

Alan