Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Cliché: a chip off the old block

Meaning: someone who closely resembles another person. Origins and uses.
Rewrite 1: a
chipn5b out of the old cookie
Rewrite 2: a
twig off the old tree
Rewrite 3: a
stone out of the solid earth
Rewrite 4: a
thread out of fine cloth

Comment: My sense is that this is usually used in referring to someone who resembles someone else of quality or solid
character, but it doesn’t have to. I avoided some similar “size” comparisons that could have negative connotationsn2, like “crumb” or “crust”, but using them could easily refer to someone of less character, on either side of the comparison.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I
googled “clichés”:
Los Angeles Clichés: “Canards and clichés, L.A. through the N.Y. Times looking glass.”

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