Cliche of the Week 12 – Hard Yards

Doing the hard yards ensures success in sport and in life, but not in language skills.

Sports writers find this a useful way to describe effort: "The hard yards take place during training sessions when skills are honed and athletes ensure their bodies are finely tuned" (Tweed Daily News, August 12).

More recently the phrase has been adapted by politicians as a backhanded way of saying how hard and how smart they've been working.

Treasurer Wayne Swan: "We've done the hard yards. Mr Abbott has no ...