Cliché: high as a kite

Meaning:  intoxicated (example)



Rewrite 1: High as a crop duster
Rewrite 2: High as a loon
Rewrite 3: Tumbling in the clouds
Rewrite 4: Partying past Everest
Rewrite 5: Flying with the Shuttle


Comment: I tried to give some sense of the euphoria of intoxication accompanied with a sense of being above board. Some of it has a double entendre nature to it. How would you rewrite or recast this cliché and keep its dual nature? 


Feel free to discuss this on Twitter, too: @a_copywriter
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More double entendres
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Cliché: hen pecked

Meaning: males harassed by females (example)


Rewrite 1: sow slopped
Rewrite 2: bitch nipped
Rewrite 3: ewe butted
Rewrite 4: lioness mauled
Rewrite 5: apron whipped


Comment: I tried to stay with the female of the species until the last item, and then I tried to pick up on something that species would do to grapple with one of their own species.


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Life with family animals

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Cliché: heard it through the grapevine

Meaning: gossip, "news" heard from unofficial sources (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: heard it at the watercooler
Rewrite 2: received it on e-mail
Rewrite 3: rd it on txt
Rewrite 4: saw it on Facebook (or Twitter)
Rewrite 5: read it on Drudge
Rewrite 6: Saw it on E!


Comment: Some an updating of "technology" from grapevine to social media.


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Legal ins and outs for writing about entertainment industry
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Cliché: heads up!

Meaning: Be alert, be watchful (example 1, example 2)



Rewrite 1: eyes open!
Rewrite 2: ears piqued!
Rewrite 3: blinders off!
Rewrite 4: on-off switches "on"!
Rewrite 5: plugs in the wall!


Comment: This is generally about keeping alert, being aware, but I thought it might also be about watching out for things we might overlook.

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More idioms to profit by
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Cliché: head over heels

Meaning: excited; turning bodyflips or cartwheels (example)



Rewrite 1: noggin over joggin
Rewrite 2: cap over socks
Rewrite 3: helmet over cleats
Rewrite 4: nose over toes
Rewrite 5: knees over shoulders


Comment: Most of these are just another way of saying the same thing, although I did at least change the general terms and order a bit. It might have been fun to say something more like "knocked into body flips" or "rolling like a Catherine's wheel."


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How the pros write about sports
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Cliché: he's toast

meaning: facing certain defeat (example - be toast) 


Rewrite 1: he's month-old biscuit
Rewrite 2: he's burnt bacon
Rewrite 3: he's melted ice
Rewrite 4: he's overdosed on Tobasco
Rewrite 5: he's past his use-by date


Comment: These all relate to food in different states of disaster. What other metaphors might you explore?


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Women and food
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Cliché: egg on your face, have

Meaning: embarrassed or look stupid (example) 


Rewrite 1: catsup on your chin
Rewrite 2: soup on your tie
Rewrite 3: ink in your pocket
Rewrite 4: price tag on your sleeve
Rewrite 5: tear in your trousers


Comment: I tried to think of little accidents of which one might be caught unaware that would make you look foolish. What other kinds of situations might be embarrassing that could be expressed in this kind of cliché?


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Writing for well-being
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Cliché: harebrained idea

Meaning: foolish, poorly thought out (example)



Rewrite 1: squirrelbrained idea
Rewrite 2: muttbrained idea
Rewrite 3: teenbrained idea
Rewrite 4: blondebrained idea
Rewrite 5: football-without-a-helmetbrained idea


Comment: These all tend to be the more stereotyped weak-minded-folk examples, but we all know that they don't apply to everyone in these groups. I encourage you to come up with better examples and share them here.


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Writing to generate great ideas
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Cliché: hammered

Meaning: drunk (example)


Rewrite 1: ball-peened
Rewrite 2: nail-headed
Rewrite 3: bat-beaned
Rewrite 4: slammed silly
Rewrite 5: beer-whacked
Rewrite 6: shot slappy


Comments: I would like to have worked in being splattered or hit between the eyes with a 2 by 4 or something more evocative, but this list should do for a starter. What can you come up with?


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Writing about construction?
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Cliché: hardheaded

Meaning: hard to get through to or to effect change (example)


Rewrite 1: cement headed
Rewrite 2: steel haired
Rewrite 3: mind with the welcome mat turned upside down
Rewrite 4: brain with the access panel welded shut
Rewrite 5: opinions guarded better than the vault at Fort Knox


Comment: There is a sense of this idiom which is quite literal, but mostly it means stubborn; thus, the rewrites about close-mindedness. 


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Speaking of stubborn opinions
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Cliché: hard to swallow

Meaning: hard to believe or accept (example)

Rewrite 1: hard to chew

Rewrite 2: difficult load to lift

Rewrite 3: cumbersome package to carry

Rewrite 4: hard to hoe

Rewrite 5: rocky bit of earth to dig

Comment: There are actually a lot of interesting ways to recast this idiom, depending on the situation. I'll bet you can find even more inventive ways to reword this bitter spoonful of medicine.

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If you've ever thought of writing about food

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Cliché: happy as a clam at full tide

Meaning: contented (example)


Rewrite 1: happy as a worm at the bottom of the compost pile
Rewrite 2: happy as moth with a fresh beam of light
Rewrite 3: happy as a cat with a full ball of yarn
Rewrite 4: happy as a dog at an archeological dig
Rewrite 5: happy as a cow greeted with a warm pair of hands


Comment: Unlike "happy as a lark" this isn't about unabated happiness, this is about satisfaction and contentment. So the rewrites or recasts should be about situations where the subject has either found himself/herself in an unusual situation or an ecstatic moment. I'd love to see what you come up with.


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Talking about nature...
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Cliché: happy as a lark

Meaning: happy and full of life (example)


Rewrite 1: hamming it up like a hummingbird
Rewrite 2: frolicsome as a goldfinch
Rewrite 3: nutty as a nuthatch
Rewrite 4: carefree as a canary
Rewrite 5: boisterous as a bronco


Comment: Although this idiom is more about acting happy and carefree, it can also be about being free and noisy - thus, the final rewrite. You're only limited by the sense in which you need to express the metaphor.


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Getting creative about nature writing 
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Cliché: happy camper

Meaning: an easily satisfied person or easily made comfortable (example)


Rewrite 1: elated outdoorsman
Rewrite 2: blissful backpacker
Rewrite 3: contented tent stalker
Rewrite 4: smiling sleepingbagger
Rewrite 5: smug smooresman


Comment: To recreate the flavor of this idiom I think you need to relate back to the essence of the camping experience. The more you can blend them into the language the closer you will come to capturing its spirit.


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The language of camping
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My internship for sporting goods dealer: More than just writing about camping equipment

Cliché: haste makes waste

Meaning: acting too quickly brings ruin (example)


Rewrite 1: urgency creates emergencies
Rewrite 2: speed up and screw up
Rewrite 3: quickly makes sickly
Rewrite 4: fast is surpassed
Rewrite 5: pressed for time means messed on design


Comment: This is one of those idioms that's popular partly because of its rhyme, so I tried to stay with that attitude while I was rewriting. See what you can come up with.


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Writing with rhyme and reason
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Cliché: half-baked idea, a

Meaning: an idea or concept not completely thought through (example) 


Rewrite 1: half-boiled idea
Rewrite 2: half-stirred suggestion
Rewrite 3: half-primed plan
Rewrite 4: half-dressed thought
Rewrite 5: half-knotted scheme
Rewrite 6: barely seared concept


Comment: Although many of these rewrites are cooking related I did try to vary the metaphor. They are all related to ideas, but I'm betting you can think of some other applications for applying this idiom.


Share your rewrites with all of us in Comments. Stop by and say hello on Twitter: @a_copywriter 
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More words on food
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Cliché: go belly up, to

Meaning: failure, bankruptcy, even death (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: tank with the fishes
Rewrite 2: suffer a goldfish swirly
Rewrite 3: go all rigor mortise on us
Rewrite 4: time in the elephant burial grounds
Rewrite 5: headed for the hereafter


Comment: It's hard to write metaphorically about the death of something without sounding maudlin or even insensitive. I tried to cover various caricatures of death for more picturesque speech. 


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Writing about death
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Cliché: go through the motions

Meaning: half-hearted or faked effort (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: go through the commotions
Rewrite 2: pull a slight-of-motivation
Rewrite 3: deliver a hand puppet effort
Rewrite 4: pull a dead rabbit out of his hat
Rewrite 5: give it less than he's got


Comment: The idea here is to suggest how little life or earnestness there is in the effort. I thought adding a suggestion of sleight-of-hand or faked magic might be interesting, too.


How would you rewrite it? Give me a shout on Twitter: @a_copywriter
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Speaking of magic
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Cliché: go for broke

Meaning: to risk or bet everything; try with all your might (example 1, example 2)


Rewrite 1: throw in the house and kids
Rewrite 2: go for tilt
Rewrite 3: bet to win the poorhouse
Rewrite 4: sweat half dollars
Rewrite 5: arrrr! till you pop an artery


Comment: Look at this arsenal of rewrites as walking the full line of meanings, from risk to betting to effort. Man, I'm tired!


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Living on the edge
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Cliché: don't give a hoot, I

Meaning: don't care about something (example 1, example 2)

Rewrite 1: don't give a tweet

Rewrite 2: don't give a bee's buzz

Rewrite 3: don't give a donkey's bray

Rewrite 4: don't give a leaf's chance in a gale

Rewrite 5: don't give a dwarf's wink in a toss 

Comment: The last recast of this cliché is probably more appropriate to "midget tossing," but I like the way the words work together better in this use.

What rewrites have you thought to use? Share them on Twitter: @a_copywriter

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Nature writing

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