10 Overused Expressions Beyond Clichés

Clichés have their purpose. When you want to express how silly Mother looked when the flying pancaught fire, “She ran around like a chicken with her head cut off,” quickly gets your point across. Never mind that no one who’s grown up outside a farm knows what the hell this looks like — we can imagine. There’s no need to say more. A cliché quickly gets your point across.

But theydon’t work inwriting. Most writers know enough toavoidoutdated phrases and idioms because, well, they’re outdated. Th...