Language clichés are like cats, they have seven lives – 08/02/2023 – Sérgio Rodrigues

Today I want to write a chronicle that is like an alignment call, so that at the end of the day all readers are on the same page about the uncultured and beautiful. That’s about it!

Of course, a chronicle of this power, a true benchmark of world chronicle, is not for the weak. But playing for the universe, being proactive and working a few hours a week it is possible to reach the goal!

Addressing the problem of finding the perfect chronicle, the one that will generate millionaire returns and work for my brand while I sleep — that just depends on the agency. I already have the expertise and resilience, having been head of the column for so many years.

First of all you need to check the three Bs. Briefing? Check. Business plan? Check. Gleam in the eye? Check again. That’s enough, folks! Then just don’t miss the newspaper’s deadline and that’s it: tremendous win-win.

By the way, how about starting by changing the approach? Instead of being a chronicler, a modern text professional should project himself as a multiplatform content producer. Performing in one medium is totally 20th century. Who do you think I am, Don Draper?

Time to think outside the box. Will I need mentoring to start the process? No, you are not ready for this conversation. Surprising a total of zero people. This billet is true!

Yes, we are always walking on eggshells when walking between vocabulary fads, commonplaces, clichés. Semi-literate or typical, ready-made phrases are more than chasms in the writing and speech of someone who doesn’t have the guts to reduce them to dust.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it’s shot and fall: there’s the conventional expression, that party rice, that easy figure, lying in the splendid cradle of the poorly traced.

And it may even be that the person has an enviable culture. It is a crass error to think that a refined education is enough to shield someone against this insidious evil.

Not at all: clichés, like cats, have seven lives! At the slightest nap, they attack Greeks and Trojans, penetrating hearts and minds.

The price of the absence of clichés is eternal vigilance. Every writer worthy or worthy of being so called knows that without sweating profusely, without working from dawn to dusk, she will not be safe from this sweet poison.

Did I say sweet? Yes, because a commonplace is like an old slipper for tired feet, providing the user with a clear feeling of pleasure and comfort.

That’s where the danger lives! We cannot lose sight of the fact that this rogue love, deep down a little saint from hollow wood, is always ready to deprive us in the dead of night and with a dry and disconcerting dribble of a precious good.

And what good will that be? Now I’m going to surprise a total of zero people, but it’s better to stay in the dark and make sure everyone is on the same page.

The precious asset is the originality of the expression. The thread of words. Clear, lucid thinking. The critical spirit. The opposite of sleepwalking.

This is what the cliché —classic or contemporary, analogue or digital, vernacular or barbaric, Portuguese-speaking or English– corrupts, leaving us empty-handed and seeing ships in the dark winter of language.

Caveat: after much above average spending in today’s column, irony will be severely curtailed in this space until April 1st.

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