Cliché: between a rock and a hard place

Meaning: between difficult choices or hard decisions (example)


Rewrite 1: between a wreck and a run-in
Rewrite 2: between the pool ball and the cue stick
Rewrite 3: between a hammer and a nail head
Rewrite 4: between an excuse and a rationale
Rewrite 5: between a lake and loch


Comment: At the end, I took this from being about being caught between difficult situations to looking at situations that are called something different but are really very much alike. That covers some slight perversions of the use of the idiom.


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Cliché: as the crow flies

Meaning: in a straight line, by the shortest route (as a crow would fly) (example)


Rewrite 1: as the plane flies
Rewrite 2: as the gaggle travels
Rewrite 3: as the wind flows
Rewrite 4: as the clouds cross
Rewrite 5: as the stars pass overhead


Comment: Crows fly place to place versus some of the examples I've given, which are things that over, thus avoiding turns, hills, valleys, detours, etc. Planes do apply to the original example, because they fly directly place to place, although not so much if they end up stacking over a landing site. So, be careful of your metaphors. The important thing is getting there directly, in as short a route as possible.
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Cliché: zip it!

Meaning: close or shut as with a zipper, usually a directive for the mouth or voice


Rewrite 1: staple it!
Rewrite 2: sew it!
Rewrite 3: clamp it!
Rewrite 4: crimp it!
Rewrite 5: glue it!
Rewrite 6: press it!


Comment: There are many ways to secure something that you can use as exchanges for this less common idiom. Keep in mind that there are other uses for the phrase, too. In the technological age, it may be a reference to the ZIP drive and in the non-technological sense it may be a reference to speeding something along, as by speeding the mail using the ZIP code.
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Cliché: your goose is cooked

Meaning: you're done in, in trouble; your cause is lost (example 1, example 2)

Rewrite 1: your potatoes are mashed

Rewrite 2: your steak is fried

Rewrite 3: your chocolate has melted

Rewrite 4: the letter is mailed

Rewrite 5: the words are in print

Comment: "Your goose is cooked" often has an almost fatalist quality to it suggesting consequences will follow and now your fate is decided. I've written a range of possible recasts that go from the simple "something devastating has happened" to the "something is now beyond your control" quality, but there is a fuller range you could explore.

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Sorry I was unable to slay more clichés this week. Too many things happened this week that prevented it -- I have higher hopes for next week! 

Cliché: a wet blanket

Meaning: Someone who or something that discourages (example 1) (example 2)


Rewrite 1: a warm, dank night
Rewrite 2: a cold sheet on a cold night
Rewrite 3: a power outage at a gamer con
Rewrite 4: a tire mired in mud


Comment: "A warm blanket" is an evocative metaphor for something that discourages, in this case, that dampens or smothers enthusiasm. I was initially going for other things that evoked a sense response, then broadened the meaning to other situations that might discourage by getting in the way or interrupting progress.


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Cliché: watching the clock

Meaning: eager to leave or stop doing something (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: watching the sweep hand
Rewrite 2: listening for the timer to beep
Rewrite 3: watching for the sun to set
Rewrite 4: looking for "the end"
Rewrite 5: looking for an article stop


Comment: I looked for things besides an actual clock that represented the end to something, thus: the sweep hand of a clock that ticked off minutes, the sound of a timer that signaled the end of a specific time, the words that often signal the end of a movie, and the graphic device some publications use to show that an article stops.


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Cliché: up the ante

Meaning: increase the cost, size, or importance of something especially something of risk (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: up the price of admission
Rewrite 2: increase the down payment
Rewrite 3: accelerate your buy-in
Rewrite 4: tinker with the ticket
Rewrite 5: graduate the anxiety level
Rewrite 6: pump up the game


Comment: Most of these involve the cost, but there is far more room to recast size or importance. 


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Cliché: take the bull by the horns

Meaning: confront a difficult problem head on or confidently tackle a difficult problem (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: Take the rhino by the horn
Rewrite 2: Take the lion by the mane
Rewrite 3: Grab the rottweiler by the whiskers
Rewrite 4: Stand your ground against the tremor
Rewrite 5: Face the gale and damn the flood


Comments: Obviously, these are all metaphorical. I wouldn't want any of you to stand before an approaching tornado in the hope of out-nerving it, for instance.


Don't forget to check the alphabetic listing of cliches I've already rewritten. Look in the nav bar just below the title.


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Cliché: take the gloves off

Meaning: play or act more aggressively, less guardedly (example)


Rewrite 1: take the padding off
Rewrite 2: shed the wuss pads
Rewrite 3: drop the kiddie protectors
Rewrite 4: play to lose some skin
Rewrite 5: resort to roughy rules


Comment: I've written to the idea of dropping artificial protectants, using more sarcastic language, but it doesn't have to be that way. You could just as easily work it toward more natural conditions or more agile play. Ask yourself what the gloves represent and what taking them off means in your circumstance.


Check out the new alphabetic list, now built into the navigation in my blog. I'm still working with the format.


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Cliché: shoestring budget

Meaning: limited resources or of lowest financial means (example)


Rewrite 1: second-hand budget
Rewrite 2: single-flower budget
Rewrite 3: staples funds
Rewrite 4: hand-me-down reserves
Rewrite 5: do-it-yourself plan


Comment: This cliché is full of opportunity for rewrites and recasting, and in today's economy there is likely ample reason to, with so many stories of people cutting back on spending or trimming luxuries. 


Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.


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Cliché: a real toad strangler

Meaning: overwhelmingly heavy rain or other overwhelming circumstance


Rewrite 1: a real guppy gusher
Rewrite 2: a real worm drowner
Rewrite 3: a real line snapper 
Rewrite 4: a real bag burster


Comment: The idiom here suggests that the rain is so heavy it could overwhelm even an amphibian used to living in or near water. It could be used to suggest other things that might overwhelm something otherwise at home in that environment. So, a rewrite should fit in that sense. A recast could take an opposite tack or simply suggest a different kind of overwhelming circumstance.


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Cliché: quiet as a mouse

Meaning: nearly noiseless (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: quiet as a worm
Rewrite 2: silent as a spider
Rewrite 3: calamitous as a cotton ball
Rewrite 4: noisy as drying paint


Comment: Sometimes said as "still as a mouse," so you could also use that as another variation. Also note that in the third and fourth rewrites that I took an opposite tack.


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Cliché: pass the buck

Meaning: avoid responsibility by passing it along to another (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: pass the deal
Rewrite 2: pass the trouble
Rewrite 3: hand off the dynamite
Rewrite 4: string you some worry beads


Comment: The key to recasting this cliché is recognizing its origins and playing around with its essence, then try to take it as far from the original as possible. 


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Cliché: off the cuff

Meaning: impromptu response; quick response with little thought (example 1, example 2)


Comment: There are two senses of this idiom. One is of the quick response to something, the "off the cuff remark." 


Rewrite 1: off the sunbeam
Rewrite 2: out of the clouds
Rewrite 3: brain spark


Another is the seeming impromptu response that is actually the result of more cunning thinking, the "off the cuff quote."


Rewrite 4: off the palm (notes in your palm)
Rewrite 5: off the ceiling (figuring in your head and looking at the ceiling while calculating)
Rewrite 6: one-eye count (a facial expression assumed while calculating)


The recast depends more on the sense you're using. How would you rewrite it?


Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.


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Cliché: nerves of steel

Meaning: unwavering courage (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: nerves of neutronium
Rewrite 2: titanium resolve
Rewrite 3: concrete courage
Rewrite 4: hard-wired will


Comments: Think unyielding metal or rocky resolve.


Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.

Cliché: make ends meet

Meaning: to live within one's means.


Rewrite 1: make dollar bills cover the paper bills
Rewrite 2: hope coins cover charges
Rewrite 3: ensure pluses equal minuses
Rewrite 4: keep the bottom line above the bottom line
Rewrite 5: make the sums cover the differences

Comments: The origins of this idiom are a little obscure. Are they from bookkeeping or tailoring? How you recast such a cliché may be affected by its origins, although in this instance I've aimed more at its literal meaning.

Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.

Cliché: look what the cat dragged in

Meaning: Surprised (sometimes feigned) reaction to a mess or uncomfortable situation either brought in or caused by someone. (example)


Rewrite 1: Look what the dog dumped on our doorstep
Rewrite 2: Look what Poppa brought home
Rewrite 3: Look what the birds dropped on the window
Rewrite 4: Look what scurried under the door


Comment: Often considered simply an idiom instead of a cliché, but it's still overused and could be rewritten.


Check out the searchable alphabetical list of my cliché rewrites with my archived list.