Cliches have a significant role in our lives by giving us some respectability when we lack anything substantial to say. Two decades back, my parents and teachers would use an enormous amount of clichés upon me. Most of them would be based on kindergarten morality and wisdom. Some of the most common ones would be: Early bird catches the worm; Fortune favors the brave; blah blah…
As one grows older, such kindergarten wisdom fades away for most. They are replaced by the perennial favorites like “Every religion teaches the same truth” and “All politicians are corrupt”. There are the ones like
All the same, many novel clichés have gradually emerged over the last few years in
: I hate Gandhi
: I think George Bush is the most stupid person
: Only 15 percent of every rupee meant for the poor ever reached the poor
: Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life
: Cricket is not a sport but a religion
: Look how the communists are courting business in
: Your performance was mind-blowing, fantabulous!!!!
Life becomes simple with clichés and people do keep coming up with newer ones, sometimes with great consequences for the one who coins it. Look at how Chris Andersen benefited from his Long Tail or how Raj Thackeray leveraged upon his cliches against North Indians. But many times, they fail to get the speaker any respect even when he is saying something rather profound. One needs to only look at
2 comments:
Isn't the Hinduism part just a statement of fact, not a cliché? Sanatana Dharma is not a religion, it is a way of life..
@Lekhni;
yes, Sanatan Dharma (religion) is a way of life; so are christianity, islam, and the new age religions that crop up from Esalen
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