Grammar Moses: 'Tis the season to avoid cliches like the plague

I really should have lumped this column in with a series I wrote recently on things that get in the way of good writing.

I have so far focused on jargon, unnecessary words and poor use of quotes. Today, cliches.

Thanks to Jerome Allen for the inspiration. "What drives me nuts: Writers who don't avoid cliches like the plague," he wrote with a dollop of irony.

If you wrote as fast and as frequently as journalists do, you might better understand the various crutches we tend to lean on.

Astute editors, however, aim to kick them out from under writers.

Cliches are insidious things that make us roll our eyes at the lack of originality in writing. A cliché is a word or phrase that is used so often and in so many contexts that it tends to lose its original meaning. They can be inappropriate or sound silly - when "silly" is not what the writer was after.

Maybe you all have your own lists, but here are a few of mine:

The white stuff

Weather forecasters are predictably challenged in the winter months to not repeat themselves.

But when it snows for any length of time, that can be difficult.

I believe it was during the 1980s that I started hearing many of them refer to snow as "the white stuff," because they didn't want to say "snow" twice in a weather report.

There really isn't a good synonym for "snow." I understand that. But please stop with the ridiculous "white stuff."

I've not been to Alaska, but I have to wonder whether forecasters there use the Inuits' many, many names for different types of snow in their weather reports.

In Miami, where it hasn't snowed since 1977, "the white stuff" falling from the sky was more than likely bales of cocaine. At least that's what "Miami Vice" taught me.

Worst nightmare

"Every parent's worst nightmare" is all sorts of bad. Why? Because not all parents have the same set of fears. I've seen this phrase applied to abductions, rapes, murders, SIDS, car accidents and fires.

Shame on Dr. Phil for using that phrase to describe a child's suicide, a child being molested, a child molesting others and a child dying at another's hand.

These are all horrible things, but to characterize each as "every parent's nightmare" is clickbait at its worst.

This cliché can sound insensitive to a parent who has lost a child to one of those other horrible things. Best never to use it, but it's a staple intro to many TV news stories.

Iconic

Coca-Cola is an iconic soda brand. Why? It's worldwide. It's the dominant manufacturer. It has a mystique. It's representative of a sector of the marketplace.

Schweppes (which Coke distributes) is the original bottler of soft drinks and has been around for 240 years, but it doesn't have the same cachet.

Meryl Streep is an iconic actress. She represents the best in acting.

But all sorts of things and people these days are described as "iconic" when they don't stand out or deserve our veneration.

Calling Fruity Pebbles an iconic breakfast dessert is probably going overboard.

Kick the can

The phrase "kick the can down the road" was popularized in the halls of Congress in the 1980s.

It has grown like black mold since then. You can probably blame talking heads shows on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News for allowing that to promulgate.

It means to procrastinate.

Today, I wouldn't be surprised that if a majority of people saw a can lying in the road, almost none of them would kick it. Well, maybe tomorrow.

Whatever happened to "procrastinate"?

Unveil

Here is one common in local journalism. Finance directors "unveil" budgets. Developers "unveil" plans.

I don't remember seeing any veils being pulled away to reveal a bound municipal budget when I was covering village board meetings.

Leave the unveiling to new sculptures and paintings, where those in attendance are expected to gasp and applaud in appreciation.

I've heard some gasping at the release of municipal budgets, but rarely applause.

Extra credit

My list is considerably longer than this, but I've run short of room.

A few others to consider striking from your copy:

• "Thinking outside the box"

• "A perfect storm"

• "Carnage"

• "War chest"

• "Like a bomb went off"

• And News Editor Michelle Holdway's favorite: "If you build it, they will come."

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/executive editor of the Daily Herald. You can buy Jim's book, "Grammar Moses: A humorous guide to grammar and usage," at

grammarmosesthebook.com. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com

and put "Grammar Moses" in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.