Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Cliché: keep your fingers crossed

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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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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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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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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