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Posts with tag: cliches | Return to the IWJ Homepage
Website Offers Searchable Database of Cliches
The Cliché Finder offers a searchable database of over 3,300 clichés. Enter cat into the search box and you will get results like "cat got your tongue?," "cat's pajamas" and "curiosity killed the cat." What is a cliché? Morgan, the creator of the cliché search site, explains the Cliché Finder's test for a cliche:
A cliche is not just something that lots of people say; It's something that lots of people say and it conveys some sort of idea or message. A cliche is, in other words, a metaphor characterized by its overuse.
I have my own test to see if a phrase is a cliche or not. I read the first half of the sentence, then I ask myself, "do I just know (because everyone knows) how the sentence ends?" Someone recently submitted, "The gene pool could use a little chlorine." I knew this wasn't a cliche because when I say, "The gene pool could use what?" I don't know how to end the sentence.
Answers.com also has a definition of Cliché.
The Cliché Finder also provides an option to submit a cliché. And just for fun you can click on the ten random clichés feature.
Posted on November 23, 2005
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FindCliches.com Lists Overused Plot Ideas
FindCliches.com is a website that lists clichés. Most interesting to authors and writers will be the sections covering overused plots including TV sitcom clichés, science fiction clichés and detective novel clichés. Here are a few overused plots from the science fiction category:
Earth is threatened by an asteroid, and a space mission is mounted to save the planet.
The Bad Guy travels through time to kill the Hero in his childhood, or to prevent him from ever being born.
People connect their brains directly to computers and get dependent on them.
A great hunter decides that humans are the most entertaining prey of all, and visits Earth to bag a few.
Aliens put someone on trial for the sins of humanity.
A robot falls in love with a human.
Posted on June 30, 2005
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