If a cliché is an expression used so much its become trite or irritating, why do so many TV commentators still use them over and over? Unabashedly. I guess thinking they’re clever. Or cute. Ugh!
Lately, CNBC takes the cliché crown. It’s almost becoming a cliché hangout.
Yes, it seems clichés are “the order of the day” on these Breaking News days.
This past week, to make a banal point about some company, anchor Carl Quintanilla dredged up that tired old canary, the one croaking in the coalmine.
Please Carl, can you release that canary from your whole mind?
On the very same day from different commentators came these not very original phrases “past is prologue;” “the devil’s in the details” and “tilting at windmills.” Ugh! Can we leave that last one for Don Quixote?
No, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, nor does time heal all wounds, so why on earth do we still say such things?
Now let’s look at the biggest cliché of them all heard every day, every few minutes “’round the clock” on CNN and on other television news networks ad nauseam . . . BREAKING NEWS!
It could be the exact same news reported only a few minutes ago, but it’s still BREAKING. And it will keep BREAKING again and again. The same news.
Hey, here’s a thought. Why not come up with something more original than Breaking News?
Earthquakes make news. How about Newsquakes? No, that’s silly.
How about ERUPTING NEWS! No.
Major News? That’s better. SUDDEN MAJOR NEWS! Even better!
Anything’s better than BREAKING NEWS, which for news junkies like myself is starting to become ACHING NEWS.
How about SPECIAL REPORT! THIS JUST IN! NOW CROSSING THE WIRES!
Come help us Don Quixote. But bring Sancho with you for a reality check to calm my . . . BREAKING NERVES!
