麻豆社

Is it down to author Martin Amis declaring war on overused stock phrases - or annual surveys of the well-worn expressions we love to hate?

At the end of the day, the fact of the matter is, people have very strong feelings about clich茅s.

From politics to TV drama, sporting clich茅s to toe-curling corporate jargon, Steve Punt drills down into the archive to discover why so many of us have been singing from the same hymn sheet.

Steve traces clich茅 origin stories and listens to the sound of some new ones being hatched.

With a bee in his bonnet, a little bird tells us Steve will be joined by:

* Storytelling expert, John Yorke - who is brave as a lion
* Parliamentary sketch-writer, Madeline Grant - who knows the writing's on the wall
* Author of a whole book about footballing clich茅s, Adam Hurrey - proving laughter is the best medicine

Navigating a linguistic minefield where conventions must be separated from tropes, platitudes from pontification, Steve runs it up the flagpole to ask if it鈥檚 time to stop rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, attempt some blue-sky thinking and rehabilitate the humble clich茅.

"It could,鈥� he says, 鈥渂e a game-changer.鈥�

Producer: Conor Garrett

They tried to cover their tracks and pull the wool over our eyes, but straight up - this was first broadcast on 麻豆社 Radio 4 in August 2022.

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