Monday, August 29, 2005
Death of a Cliché
There are some sayings in our culture that had meaning that everyone understood at one point, but have since become meaningless. Here are a few that come to mind. Let me know if you can think of any others…
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I never understood this one. If the Trojans had inspected their gift horse a little more closely, they might have avoided getting sacked. Of course even stranger is why they named condoms after the Trojans – I would think the folks who opened their gates to accept a gift from the gods that actually contained a horde of sneaky little soldiers would be a bad image for prophylactic makers.
“They are selling like hot cakes.”
Honestly, when is the last time you saw people lining up for hot cakes? Egg McMuffins perhaps, but I just don’t think hot cakes have the pull they enjoyed with previous generations.
“What are you waiting for? Christmas to come?”
I went to Costco this weekend (Saturday, August 27 to be exact), and saw the first Christmas decorations of the season. Yup. Right up there next to the Halloween candy and Summer deck furniture, stood a giant tacky Christmas train made out of bright lights and snow-white wire frame that you can put up in your front yard today. So unless the meaning of this phrase changes to indicate you are waiting for something that never really goes away, or something that started out as a religious family gathering and has instead transformed into a year-long marketing blitz, I’m afraid this cliché too must join the legion of the defunct. May it rest in peace (on Earth).
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I never understood this one. If the Trojans had inspected their gift horse a little more closely, they might have avoided getting sacked. Of course even stranger is why they named condoms after the Trojans – I would think the folks who opened their gates to accept a gift from the gods that actually contained a horde of sneaky little soldiers would be a bad image for prophylactic makers.
“They are selling like hot cakes.”
Honestly, when is the last time you saw people lining up for hot cakes? Egg McMuffins perhaps, but I just don’t think hot cakes have the pull they enjoyed with previous generations.
“What are you waiting for? Christmas to come?”
I went to Costco this weekend (Saturday, August 27 to be exact), and saw the first Christmas decorations of the season. Yup. Right up there next to the Halloween candy and Summer deck furniture, stood a giant tacky Christmas train made out of bright lights and snow-white wire frame that you can put up in your front yard today. So unless the meaning of this phrase changes to indicate you are waiting for something that never really goes away, or something that started out as a religious family gathering and has instead transformed into a year-long marketing blitz, I’m afraid this cliché too must join the legion of the defunct. May it rest in peace (on Earth).
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Yay, yay, yay, you're back! Thank you for answering my summons. It was fun to see you at Costco. I totally missed the Christmas stuff. I think I was in too much of a hurry to get out of there. Maybe the Christmas stuff entered my subconcious and made me want to leave. Or maybe I just had that party to get to.
Anyway, you make an excellent point about the condoms, too. I've had that thought, actually, but never really expressed it so well. I think the reason I have two stepkids today is because of that very problem. The Greeks coming out and ambushing, I mean.
I just read the blog of a friend of a friend that linked to you. He said you were the friend of a friend of a friend. Wild, huh?
Say hi to everyone for me!
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Anyway, you make an excellent point about the condoms, too. I've had that thought, actually, but never really expressed it so well. I think the reason I have two stepkids today is because of that very problem. The Greeks coming out and ambushing, I mean.
I just read the blog of a friend of a friend that linked to you. He said you were the friend of a friend of a friend. Wild, huh?
Say hi to everyone for me!
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