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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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any expression [...] that is so overused as to lose impact and which is used instead of thinking creatively of a new phrase
Pity the poor soul who doesn't realize his frisson is (another sod's) cliché. By this definition, most of our English common vocabulary is très cliché and eschew-worthy. Perchance we can all start using Xhosa or Friulian lemmata for quotidian words like the and be.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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shot in the arm has been around for a very long time; whatever it is, it shows no sign of metamorphosing. Coverage of the US presidential horserace has give it a fresh boost—notice I didn't say shot in the arm.
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Carpal Tunnel
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 I'm not against clichés. It's very tiring to have to invent and hear newitties all the time. I just thought "lion's share" to be an old but useful piece of language. Not a cliché. Which I set against an expression which I think has really lost meaning. That, as I think ZM said , may be a very subjective choice. I guess all languages are full of chlichés.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perchance we can all start using Xhosa. Andikwazi ukuthetha isiXhosa. And I can pronounce Xhosa, thanks to you, Nuncle.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm not against clichés. It's very tiring to have to invent and hear newitties all the time. I just thought "lion's share" to be an old but useful piece of language. Not a cliché. I'm with you there, BranShea. I was just saying that the sort of person who complains about language shift happening is also the sort who would complain about (over)use of clichés.
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Carpal Tunnel
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... It's very tiring to have to invent and hear newitties all the time. ... Yet you just did! And it's a goodie! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Andikwazi ukuthetha isiXhosa.
Ndithetha isiXhosa kancinci nje. But seriously: a- 'not' + ndi- 'I' + kwazi 'able', uku- 'to' + thetha 'speak', isi- 'language' + Xhosa 'Xhosa'.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well this one is new for me. I'm assuming it came onto the scene at the same time as vaccinations.
I've heard, and used, "to give it a shot" to mean "to give it a try", but that's about it.
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In the meantime zmjezhd and Faldage are exchanging the most flagrant clichés in Xhosa....
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