Cliché: Is it soup yet?

Meaning: is it ready? (example)


Rewrite 1: soup poured?
Rewrite 2: done cookin'?
Rewrite 3: table set yet?
Rewrite 4: still in the oven?
Rewrite 5: pie still cooling?


Comment: I've maintained the food or eating metaphor, but there should be plenty of others you could use. For instance, building: Walls up? Decorating: Paint dry? Programming: Code up?


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Food on your keyboard
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Cliché: skating on thin ice

Meaning: taking a big risk (example)


Rewrite: swimming in deep waters
Rewrite: walking on ice
Rewrite: upstaging a diva 
Rewrite: running with scissors
Rewrite: skipping a stiff rope


Comment: This cliché was the suggestion of Jacques. Thanks, Jacques! I tried to come up with different risky scenarios without sounding too rediculous.


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More on metaphors
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Cliché: in your dreams

Meaning: a challenge of disbelief (example)


Rewrite: in your mind's eye
Rewrite: in the world of make-believe
Rewrite: as the fantasy flies
Rewrite: with your imaginary friends
Rewrite: when you're on meds


Comment: This is usually said as a taunt, so think more in terms of sarcasm.


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More on dreams
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Cliché: in the nick of time

Meaning: just in time (example)


Rewrite 1: in the tick of a tock
Rewrite 2: before the zeroes clicked over
Rewrite 3: before the bell buzzed
Rewrite 4: before a spark becomes a flame
Rewrite 5: before he could hit "send" 


Comment: The last couple of examples are more moments than time, yet I think they equally apply.


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More on idioms
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Cliché: in the hot seat

Meaning: difficult position (example)


Rewrite: in the frying pan
Rewrite: in the flood plain
Rewrite: in a war zone
Rewrite: on the nail head
Rewrite: over an open manhole
Rewrite: holding a live wire


Comment: I tried to not just concentrate on "hot" situations, but also included difficult circumstances.


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Words of conflict
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Cliché: in the clear

Meaning: blameless or innocent (example 1)(example 2)


Rewrite 1: passed clean suspect inspection
Rewrite 2: traveling barrier-free
Rewrite 3: the fog surrounding you has lifted
Rewrite 4: the dark cloud hovering over you just rained out
Rewrite 5: the trash talk has shifted to somebody else


Comment: There is an other use for this idiom related to cashflow, but all the references I found online were to blamelessness.


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Cliché: in the cards, it's

Meaning: predicatble (example, scroll down), predicted (example)


Rewrite: Swami has fortold it
Rewrite: I found it in the Bible Code
Rewrite: you will find it in the star charts
Rewrite: I knew it! I could have run the table on it!
Rewrite: it was known before they shuffled the cards


Comment: This is more about foreknowledge than predictability.


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