George Orwell wasn’t a fan.
Of dying metaphors, that is, I’m not sure whether he was a fan of windmills or not.
What’s not to like?
Windmills are wonderful. Literally.
It is an awesome thing to watch wind captured, to witness invisible swirls and draughts caught by, embraced by huge lumbering sails.
That great gigantic beehive coaxed into action by gusts of breeze and bluster.
Not just the wheat or barley adding grist, but the wind itself.
Without wind – grist grinds to a halt.
Which is what Orwell would have preferred:
‘Dying metaphors … a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: Ring the changes on, take up the cudgels for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill…’
What dying metaphor would you add to his list?
Or have you invented your very own cliche?
My donation is not a metaphor, nor a cliche.
But it is the most overused/misused word in the history of words. And that is:
Absolutely.
Yes, absolutely. You’re absolutely right.
Absolutely no way. Absolutely perfect. Absolutely ridiculous.
Anyway. I absolutely must go. I’ve got grist to grind.
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