Meaning: hope for your wanted outcome (example)
Rewrite 1: keep your fingers x'd
Rewrite 2: keep your fingers locked
Rewrite 3: keep your fingers tied
Rewrite 4: keep your knuckles knotted
Rewrite 5: keep your digits tangled
Comment: A variant is "cross your fingers," so you could also play with that in this rewrite.
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Twisted words and phrases
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Cliché: keep an eye on you
Meaning: constantly watch or monitor you (example)
Rewrite 1: keep a lens focused on you
Rewrite 2: know where you are even when you don't know where you are
Rewrite 3: know you better than yesterday's most embarrassing memory
Rewrite 4: be on you like spot on a dog
Rewrite 5: stay on you like lint on a suit
Comment: This idiom can be about being on the watch for an up-and-coming new star or on the lookout for a troublemaker, or someone in between. I've taken the latter because it seemed more fun. What can you do with this one?
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Speaking brilliantly of parts
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Rewrite 1: keep a lens focused on you
Rewrite 2: know where you are even when you don't know where you are
Rewrite 3: know you better than yesterday's most embarrassing memory
Rewrite 4: be on you like spot on a dog
Rewrite 5: stay on you like lint on a suit
Comment: This idiom can be about being on the watch for an up-and-coming new star or on the lookout for a troublemaker, or someone in between. I've taken the latter because it seemed more fun. What can you do with this one?
Eye me on Twitter: @a_copywriter
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Speaking brilliantly of parts
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Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Cliché: keep it down
Meaning: be quiet! (example)
Rewrite 1: tap it down
Rewrite 2: keep it low
Rewrite 3: keep it under a decible
Rewrite 4: put a silencer on it
Rewrite 5: soundproof it
Rewrite 6: mute it
Comment: "It" is noise, "down" is volume. Stow it, buddy. Any creative way to say it is better than "Keep it down."
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Writing in idioms
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Rewrite 1: tap it down
Rewrite 2: keep it low
Rewrite 3: keep it under a decible
Rewrite 4: put a silencer on it
Rewrite 5: soundproof it
Rewrite 6: mute it
Comment: "It" is noise, "down" is volume. Stow it, buddy. Any creative way to say it is better than "Keep it down."
Visit me on Twitter: @a_copywriter
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Writing in idioms
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Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Cliché: just around the bend
Meaning: around the next curve in the road (example)
Rewrite: beyond the dip in the road
Rewrite: up past the light and to the right
Rewrite: next stop past the turnpike
Rewrite: just yonder a bit
Rewrite: up the road a piece
Comment: This is often a visual cue in absence of measured distance, so almost any noticable change in landscape will do. The last two are more nebulous but probably reasonable alternatives.
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Speaking plain American
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Rewrite: beyond the dip in the road
Rewrite: up past the light and to the right
Rewrite: next stop past the turnpike
Rewrite: just yonder a bit
Rewrite: up the road a piece
Comment: This is often a visual cue in absence of measured distance, so almost any noticable change in landscape will do. The last two are more nebulous but probably reasonable alternatives.
Come say hello on Twitter: @a_copywriter
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Speaking plain American
(commission may be paid on purchase)
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