Dictionary of Cliches : Over 1, 300 Familiar Phrases Explored and Explained

Cliches have never been flavour of the month with school teachers, editors or literary connoisseurs, and are potential banana skins for journalists and students.

For most of us, preventing these old hat expressions from punctuating our everyday conversations and writing is more easily said than done.

The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Cliches brings together more than 1,300 of the world's most commonly used cliches in a straightforward alphabetical format, outlining the situation in which each expression is used, its origins and the reason for its creation.

Browsing through the entries, the reader will become aware of the myriad types of cliche, including simile (e.g. cool as a cucumber), quotation (damn with faint praise, Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot, Alexander Pope), doublet (odds and ends), and catchphrase (how to win friends and influence people).

While Betty Kirkpatrick spills the beans on these time-honoured expressions, it is up to the reader to decide whether the use of cliches means flogging a dead horse, or exploiting a valuable means of cutting a long story short.