Clichés Don’t Belong in Professional Writing

Some of the common cliché phrases that we find ourselves using every day do not belong in professional writing. This has become abundantly clear to me as it has become more commonplace for me to work with international clients.

As an American, I am familiar with the intended meaning of a number of common sayings that really don’t make much sense when interpreted literally or translated into another language.

I was writing an e-mail message to a client in another country, and I found myself typing something to the effect of making sure we were “on the same page.” I stopped and look at what I wrote, and realized that what I wrote wasn’t really what I meant.

The next day, I found myself writing an e-mail to a co-worker that said that I wasn’t “at the top of my game” that day. Hmm … another phrase that really doesn’t make sense if you don’t know the implied meaning.

Someone not familiar with American vernacular would not be likely to understand these phrases. Even if my clients and business associates do know what I mean when I use clichéd phrases like these, they might find it not professional.

Look at the phrases that you use when you write and see if they make sense when translated literally. If they don’t, replace them with language that is clear and direct, with no room for misunderstanding.

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Mary on June 24, 2007 | Filed Under Business Writing

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8 Responses to “Clichés Don’t Belong in Professional Writing”

Daniel on June 24th, 2007 10:48 am

In Italy people say “scrivere a prova di coglioni”… which is slightly harsher than foolproof ;).
Matthew K. Tabor on June 24th, 2007 9:59 pm

Excellent advice. Cliches stifle description, can obscure meaning and reflect poorly on the author. The business world is necessarily full of jargon and quick, imprecise communication; we need to be as clear as possible whenever we can.
Ades on June 24th, 2007 9:59 pm

Indeed Americans use a lot of cliches, being a non-american sometimes some of the cliches I find very strange.
60 in 3 on June 25th, 2007 4:20 am

I grew up in Israel, and I always found it amusing how some slang terms and cliches just didn’t translate well from Hebrew to English. I had to explain to a fellow Israeli the other day why people were amused when he told them that he enjoyed finally meeting them frontally. (In Hebrew, this is roughly equivalent to meeting them face to face).

Even if you’re just writing for an American audience, you should try to avoid cliches and slang terms. They vary from region to region and are not always compatible.

Gal
Sam on June 25th, 2007 4:13 pm

I presume you are talking about idioms, and not cliches?

Probably cliches do not belong in professional writing either, but you’ve described idioms. =)
DPeach on August 8th, 2007 4:15 pm

Thank you Sam for pointing out that these are idioms and not clichés.

How did that get by this great panel of writing tip writers?
Meg on October 23rd, 2007 6:12 am

I am from India, and often write for American audience. The clichés usign baseball terminology is not understood by many outside US. Even other English-speaking countries like UK and Australia.
Maeve on June 5th, 2008 4:21 pm

Sometimes the lines between idiom and cliché merge.

When I read the first paragraph of this post I thought it was going to be written humorously with a lot of clichés in order to impress the point on the reader.

What made me think that? The cliche “abundantly clear.”:)