Cliché
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"It was a dark and stormy night" "When all the archetypes burst out shamelessly, we plumb the depths of Homeric profundity. Two cliches make us laugh but a hundred cliches moves us because we sense dimly that the cliches are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion . . . Just as the extreme of pain meets sensual pleasure, and the extreme of perversion borders on mystical energy, so too the extreme of banality allows us to catch a glimpse of the Sublime." -- Umberto Eco, "Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage" (1984) from Travels in Hyperreality |
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A cliché is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. It is generally used in a negative context.
Identification
"Cliché" applies also to almost any situation, subject, characterization, figure of speech, or object—in short, any sign—that has become overly familiar or commonplace.
Because the novelty or frequency of an expression's use varies across different times and places, whether or not it is a cliché depends largely on who uses it, the context in which it is used, and who is making the judgment.
The meaning of a particular cliché may shift over time, often leading to confusion or misuse. An example of a cliché is "It's a trap!"
Other meanings
A cliché is also a term historically used in printing, for a printing plate cast from movable type. This is also called a stereotype.
See also
- Archetype
- Anti-cliché
- Bromide (language)
- Figure of speech
- Idiom
- It was a dark and stormy night
- Kitsch
- Film clichés
- Meme
- Siamese twins (linguistics)
- Simile
- Snowclone
- Stock character
- Stereotype
- Tropes
- Thought-terminating cliché
- TV Tropes
