By Barbara McAlister
Word of the Day: Cliche
“Cliché” comes from a French word that has come to mean something over-used and not very original. It’s similar to a stereotype, but stereotypes are over-generalizations of a particular group of people or things. To say “The grass is always greener on the other side” is a cliché because it’s often heard, trite and not especially original. To say men are better at gardening than women is a gender stereotype, assuming a general over-simplified trait common to a whole group.
Both words come from the French name for tools used in the printing trade. “Stereotype” is named for the French adjective stéréotype, meaning a firm or solid impression. This became the term for a kind of relief printing plate. The cliché was a block mold supposed to have made a clacking noise as it struck the plate, named from the French word clicher, which originally meant “to click.”
Today “cliche” translates to “stereotype” in French. It is thought that the two words evolved their meaning because the typeset produced the same thing over and over and over without change. While the meanings of cliché and stereotype are similar, they are distinct. To use either tends to be identified with negative qualities, so successful writers avoid clichés like the plague
