If you’ve ever thought that medicine’s frequently-used clichés were in jeopardy of becoming outdated, you were probably right. Today, in fact, it does take more than an apple a day to keep the doctor away - like exercising, keeping an eye on your cholesterol and avoiding bacon. And if you want to nurse a cold and feed your fever, it may be an expensive proposition, what with the shortage of good nurses and the cost of a quality home-made meal these days.
You’ll be surprised, however, to learn that even our most non-medical cherished and oft-repeated inane phrases and quips are in trouble. At least that’s what the Economist says in its latest issue. Clichés, they say, are a “linguistic fossil record” continually falling into a “petrified obsolescence.”
“Thanks to reviews, awards and celebrity book-club stickers, you can in fact judge a book by its cover. If you carry a mobile phone, write e-mail or post entries on MySpace, being out of sight does not mean being out of mind. And in the age of the iPod, no one can be accused of being unable to carry a tune.”
That’s the British for you, always on top of what’s hip. Anyway, take a look at this gem of a column and you’ll see, as I did, that clichés “just aren’t what they used to be.”
