Taking Aim at Commo
a scholium on style and usage
Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a
style.
Jonathan Swift ["A Letter to a Young Gentleman, lately
entered into Holy Orders" (1721)]
The Surest Road to Tedium
Like me, you were probably admonished by your teacher that
careful writing avoids clichés. Phrases like right as
rain, blind as a bat, or playing with fire
were old, tired and worn out. They should be avoided like the
plague. You might have tried to follow her advice even
though such phrases appeared bright and colorful to your young
mind, wondering from time to time how a phrase became
old, tired and worn out. Of course, the primary reason is that
the phrases WERE bright and colorful –
originally. And that was the trouble. They were so bright and
colorful that they became overused. Worse, they became so
familiar that people stopped paying attention to what they really
meant, even though once upon a time they were hip and
clever.
Clichés can describe or explain human behavior in a crisp
and decisive way. This is especially true in the military where a
light touch can go a long way in relieving stress and
frustration. It often begins as innocent fun, later picked up by
outsiders who find it meaningful. For example, the term big
gun is a reference to ordnance dating from about the 1400s,
being pieces that were so heavy as to require special handling.
This became an easy transition to today's person who is important
enough to be treated in a special way. Flash in the pan
also has a firearm reference dating to around the time of the
Civil War wherein gunpowder might ignite prematurely (the pan
being part of the gunlock), creating sound and fury but
accomplishing nothing. Today a flash in the pan refers
to a person or event that has a dramatic beginning but soon
fizzles out. Another unproductive circumstance derives from a
misfire, called a dead pan, leaving the astonished
person blank from embarrassment or chagrin. These guns also
spawned the cliché, lock, stock and barrel,
referring to the different kinds of firelock mechanisms, such as
flintlock or matchlock, with the stock, meaning the wooden
handle, and the barrel, for directing the trajectory. It refers
to the entire amount, a saying that has become useful in the
commercial world, as in "I bought the business, lock, stock and
barrel."
These and the many other references to firearms show how
important they are to the military. Other clichés deal
with wartime and the various battles that ensue where success is
never a certainty. In the British battle of Albuera against
Napoleon's French in 1811, the British were victorious despite
horrible casualties, due largely to the inspiration of their
Colonel Inglis who told his men to "die hard, my lads, die
hard." Certainly the men's success was due largely to their
determination and courage. And so another cliché was
incorporated into everyday language where we refer to someone who
is both fierce and resilient as being a diehard.
During the Civil War when there was neither anesthetic nor well
equipped field hospitals, a man might face amputation with only
the help of a quick swallow of whiskey and a bullet placed
between his teeth to mute his cries of pain before he mercifully
passed-out. Today one might figuratively bite the bullet
as well when facing an unpleasant though necessary task, muffling
cries of distress, as another cliché that has drifted into
common use.
Another term, quarter, comes from long ago times before
street signs, when land and location was divided into areas
within the city or points on a compass. They soon evolved into
references to a person's living accommodations. Hence, when an
army faced certain defeat, the soldiers might hear the victor
declare that he'd give no quarter(s), namely refuse to
provide the prisoners a place to stay, which would essentially
mean to take no prisoners. Today we have adopted this
cliché to signal an aggressive stance.
Not surprisingly, there are many clichés taken from
nautical terminology, since sailors had to manage via their
muscles and wits long before machines or instruments were
invented, with ropes and sails providing the power when there was
enough wind to put them to use. With weeks and months at sea to
wile away the time, what is more stereotypical than a drunken
sailor, hence the phrase three sheets to the wind, his
movements resembling a flapping sail. But actually, the word
sheet refers to the rope that trimmed the sail, keeping
it under control. Sometimes these ropes needed to be fully
extended to their bitts, a point where they were
attached to the posts on the deck. There they played out to
the bitter end, which had nothing to do with sustaining a
terrible experience as we see it today, but instead refers to a
complete extension. Other times, such as in battle or during the
sudden upsurge of a favorable wind, the ropes might be hacked in
two as the sailors cut and run, a hurried decision that
had to be acted upon without delay.
Once on the open sea, the sailors would sail either by,
that is within six compass points of the wind, or large,
perpendicular to the wind. Different sails favor different winds,
so being able to sail by and large meant to sail well in
either direction, which was a definite advantage. So today,
something being by and large, or of a general size and
quantity, would encompass the non-specific, making it more
acceptable or even a plus. Yet nature does not always cooperate.
Ever at the mercy of the winds, the sailing ship finding itself
in an area of the ocean near the equator between the northeast
and southeast trade winds could wallow there for long periods of
calm. These doldrums, coming from the Old English prefix
dheu-, meaning dull or stupefied, is a term that adapted
easily into everyday speech, signifying the loss of energy, being
depressed or feeling lazy.
Many in the military have joined-up hoping to have an opportunity
to travel, and many common terms are picked up from foreign
lands. Western novels and movies have portrayed the American
Indian scalping an opponent as a sign of success in battle. But
many cultures of warriors and hunters followed a similar capping
custom, that of adding a feather to headgear signaling a kill,
hence the term, a feather in your cap, that recognizes
such an achievement. The orient provided another series of
clichés. The word kowtow, refers to obsequious
deference, which has the same meaning in China as genuflect does
here, namely a salutation in which one bows deeply with forehead
touching the ground, an expression of respect and obedience. Our
less class-conscious society scorns the practice, hence uses the
term to describe inappropriate humility. The same is true for the
word honcho, meaning boss, which is derived
from the World War II Japanese squad leader. Americans might obey
the head honcho in one's employment, but will never
kowtow to anyone.
Young people are also noted for embracing slang with teenagers
especially quick to overuse colorful language. Who can forget the
sixth-grade embarrassment when being accused of having
cooties, a Malayan term for the kutu insect
which is the biting or sucking louse. The word was also taken up
by young soldiers suffering the louse-ridden trenches of World
War I or the bug-infested jungles during subsequent wars.
Then there is the student prank called a Chinese fire
drill, in which a car full of young people stops at a
traffic light, where all the occupants leap out, run around the
car, and return to their seats when the light turns green. This
escapade actually had its origin on a British ship served by a
Chinese crew after World War I. On this occasion, the British
officers were told to conduct a fire drill, having crew members
draw water from the starboard side, run to the engine room to
douse the supposed fire, while at the same time a second crew
pumped out the spent water in the engine room to throw it over
the port side. Unfortunately the exercise descended into chaos
with crewmembers running around in circles. The phrase was
further corrupted into other Chinese expressions, such
as Chinese puzzle, referring to anything confusing or
without purpose.
But wars do end, and training voyages return the military to
shore. There, the sailors can bring their ship to port, docking
them hard and fast, meaning to make them immovable, as
in the hard and fast rules and customs of today.
Returning to camp, the sailor or doughboy – a
reference to the round buttons worn on Civil War uniforms –
might find a few relaxing moments playing poker, adapting a
practice from the American West of passing a piece of buckshot
from player to player, signifying whose responsibility it was to
deal, each person knowing that it was his turn when the buck
stops here. Of course, the G.I. would have to mind his
p's and q's, meaning his tally of pints and quarts,
and be careful not to overindulge and behave badly, bringing down
the wrath of a superior officer.
And while cheating is always a possibility when playing cards,
punishment depends upon being caught red handed, a
reference to being found with blood on one's hands, a sure sign
of having committed murder in primitive societies, a time
predating guns when there was direct contact with clubs or
daggers. Still, if caught, the perpetrator might have to pay
through the nose, a reference to a ninth century punishment
inflicted on the Irish by the Danes for failure to pay their
taxes by slitting the wrongdoer's nose.
All of these expressions are cliché, that is tired and
worn out. But their meanings have changed, or is now stated in
such an offhand way, that their cleverness is gone. But like
slang or jargon, delightful expressions are in abundant supply,
for they echo the human condition in all of its foibles and
quirks. So your teacher was right. Don't use someone else's
cliché. Use your own powers of observation and create your
own.
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