Cliches. Organic. Bully pulpit. Fimfy.

Cliches. Organic. Bully pulpit. Fimfy.

951. In honor of National Cliché day, we uncover why some overused phrases rub us the wrong way. What is the boundary between idioms, slang, and clichés—and should we give "adulting" a break? Then, we trace the 700-year history of "organic," from bodily organs to natural growth, and ask whether using a bully pulpit makes someone a bad person.

The "cliche" segment was written by Kirk Hazen, a professor of linguistics at West Virginia University, and Jordan Lovejoy, a visiting assistant professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It first appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license (BY-ND 4.0).

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Avsnitt(967)

242 "Like" Versus "Such As"

242 "Like" Versus "Such As"

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30 Sep 20106min

240 Do All Adverbs End in "-Ly"?

240 Do All Adverbs End in "-Ly"?

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16 Sep 20108min

239 Capitalizing Proper Nouns

239 Capitalizing Proper Nouns

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9 Sep 20106min

238 Is It OK to Switch Verb Tenses?

238 Is It OK to Switch Verb Tenses?

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2 Sep 20107min

235 Swearing

235 Swearing

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12 Aug 20106min

234 Does "Until" Include the Date?

234 Does "Until" Include the Date?

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5 Aug 20106min

232 Active Voice Versus Passive Voice

232 Active Voice Versus Passive Voice

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22 Juli 20107min

231 How to Write Clear Sentences

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15 Juli 20106min

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