@Bi. A question for Prof: clichés? --- As a non-native speaker I was always fascinating by idiomatic expressions, proverbs, maxims and other "short" but meaningful utterances.

At some point in time I was told that some of them, like "barking up the wrong tree", "keeping up with the Joneses", "with flying colors" etc. are clichés! Cliché has a negative connotation! I felt dispirited!

I have on my book shelves "The dictionary of clichés", by James Rogers, Wing Books, 1985. Yet, I do not feel encouraged to open it to improve my vocabulary with beautiful expressions which the author qualifies as "banal".

Am I crying over spilled milk?

Or should I keep the pot boiling?

Source author: Petru Dumitriu PetruD@diplomacy.edu