I am sensitive to words, probably too sensitive to most of them. It is no surprise, therefore, that some clichés nearly cause me to scream out loud when I hear or read them used.
One such cliché, which has yet to appear on lists of clichés but should be at the top of them, is the phrase “cutting edge,” used to describe someone or something that is allegedly working toward some previously unknown or untried goal. Such a person is at the forefront of knowledge and experience in a particular field, or so the speaker would have me believe. By implication, the newest developments are the best and most useful, or they would be so if the huddled masses (which we are all part of, it would seem) understood or perceived them. That which is new is not necessarily that which is good.
The phrase is starting to jump out at me from an ever greater number of places. I hope for a change of cliché soon. Can you get too tired of a cliché? Possibly that’s part of its definition. It is to be hoped that a change of cliché will come soon.
white pebble 