If I update the cliché: "It's raining cats and dogs" to: "It's raining Yanks and Frogs", does it still count as a cliché?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Yes.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
You know this a perfect example of some of my favourite threads at Hatrack.
A question and a one-word answer. It's so classic.
JH I am inclined to agree with Icarus.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
If you change it to "Yanks and frogs", you're describing a Stephen King short story.
Cliche is a fairly new crepe restaurant that opened up kitty-corner from Sears Tower. I wonder if the wners had any idea what cliche means LOL.
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
I don't think it's a cliche anymore.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
"1. A trite or overused expression or idea: "Even while the phrase was degenerating to cliché in ordinary public use . . . scholars were giving it increasing attention" (Anthony Brandt). 2. A person or character whose behavior is predictable or superficial: "There is a young explorer . . . who turns out not to be quite the cliche expected" (John Crowley)"
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
The only reason the expression has any resonance at all is due to the similarity in sound to the original expression, so it is still a cliché. In science fiction writing, you sometimes see people attempt to get around clichés by creating "new" clichés in this manner. In the end, though, everybody knows what the writer really meant, so it is still trite. All this technique serves to do is break the spell by taking the reader out of the story, as he or she says, "Huh. Like 'cats and dogs.' I get it. Cute."
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
On the contrary, a Brit in WWII England might very well complain "It's raining Yanks and Frogs." in reference to American and FreeFrench troops stationed there