Meaning: metaphorically, powerful enough to explosively remove clothing
Rewrite 1: knock your boxers off
Rewrite 2: knock your bra off
Rewrite 3: blow the shutters off
Rewrite 4: spin the tires off
Comment: Extend the metaphor to the house or other things.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.
Find books on clichés through my online book store affiliated with Amazon.com. They can help you identify clichés and what they mean.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Cliché: beats picking cotton
Meaning: this is better than menial work
Rewrite 1: It beats pitting olives
Rewrite 2: It beats cleaning sewers
Rewrite 3: It beats stuffing prunes
Rewrite 4: It’s better than dusting road mines
Comment: The use has gotten away from the sense of hot, painful work picking cotton could be to the more mundane, unenviable effort. I’ve extended it even further.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list.
Find books on clichés through my online book store affiliated with Amazon.com. They can help you identify clichés and what they mean.
Rewrite 1: It beats pitting olives
Rewrite 2: It beats cleaning sewers
Rewrite 3: It beats stuffing prunes
Rewrite 4: It’s better than dusting road mines
Comment: The use has gotten away from the sense of hot, painful work picking cotton could be to the more mundane, unenviable effort. I’ve extended it even further.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list.
Find books on clichés through my online book store affiliated with Amazon.com. They can help you identify clichés and what they mean.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Cliché: the pot calling the kettle black
Meaning: in short, accusations of hypocrisy
Rewrite 1: the fire engine calling the barn red
Rewrite 2: the leopard calling the Dalmatian spotted
Rewrite 3: the emerald calling the coke bottle jaded
Rewrite 4: the yew calling the holly unruly
Rewrite 5: the spiked do calling the beard unkempt
Comment: It's easy enough to pick up the same sense by simply changing colors, but there are many other sense in which this cliche can work and in which you can extend the metaphor for seeing something in another person that you fail to see in yourself.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list at the right.
Find books on clichés through my online book store affiliated with Amazon.com. They can help you identify clichés and what they mean.
Rewrite 1: the fire engine calling the barn red
Rewrite 2: the leopard calling the Dalmatian spotted
Rewrite 3: the emerald calling the coke bottle jaded
Rewrite 4: the yew calling the holly unruly
Rewrite 5: the spiked do calling the beard unkempt
Comment: It's easy enough to pick up the same sense by simply changing colors, but there are many other sense in which this cliche can work and in which you can extend the metaphor for seeing something in another person that you fail to see in yourself.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list at the right.
Find books on clichés through my online book store affiliated with Amazon.com. They can help you identify clichés and what they mean.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Cliché: in hot water
Meaning: in a lot of trouble
Rewrite 1: in boiling water
Rewrite 2: in raging water
Rewrite 3: in hot soup
Rewrite 4: in tepid waters
Comment: The first rewrite may be an extreme case of being in hot water, so you may want to bring the heat down a notch or wait until things get way out of hand before describing it.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list at the right.
Rewrite 1: in boiling water
Rewrite 2: in raging water
Rewrite 3: in hot soup
Rewrite 4: in tepid waters
Comment: The first rewrite may be an extreme case of being in hot water, so you may want to bring the heat down a notch or wait until things get way out of hand before describing it.
Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with the archive list at the right.
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