Clichés are by definition stock phrases or expressions that have become hackneyed, trite, or banal by overuse. They are worn-out platitudes, maxims, or truisms. They are tired and predictable declarations of self-evident truths. Clichés are, to use a cliché, old chestnuts.
Sparkling prose, we’re told, should always avoid such stagnant mire. Good writers,…