Legitimate Cliches

So, I got told "it's not you; it's me" today, and it was hilarious. And no, I'm not being sarcastic, I thought it was so funny I nearly laughed out loud. What made it so great was that it struck me on two levels.

The immediate reaction to it is: who the hell still uses that cliche anymore? But what made it extra ticklish was that the person who told me didn't even realize they had done it. In fact, the exact words were, "There is nothing in your control that prevented US... my situation did." Sure, you could argue the semantic differences, but the sentiment is the same.

After it stopped being so funny to me, I tried to answer my own question: who still uses that? And the answer (at least in this case) is that it is people who are not using it as a cliche. The wording was unique (or at least not standard). I knew that the sentiment was sincere. It was a cliche, but it was a legitimate cliche.

As writers, we are taught to avoid all the cliches. Avoid all the stereotypes. Avoid all the common imagery and phrases to go with it. It is a good idea, especially to budding creative minds. It forces them to create. Not only will they make new descriptions, but they will explore new concepts.

However, stereotypes exist for a reason, and phrases become cliche for the same reason: more often than not, they're true. The problem is that the words used to express the ideas become stale. That is why it is so crucial to learn how to say the same thing in a different way. It will allow you to talk about those powerful human subjects without sounding like every single other person who talks about powerful human subjects. And that is a power worth its weight in gold (assuming you ignore the fact that this power is intangible).