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They say cliches will make your writing feel tired and tacky, unoriginal. 

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“Avoid them,” they say.

Well I promise you they’re referring to literary or journalistic writing. Novels, news articles, magazine columns. Not direct-response marketing designed to compel action. 

Proof: a copywriter named Richard Dennis analyzed every sales letter by the late, great Gary Halbert, the “Prince of Print” — one of the most original direct-response minds ever — and found these cliches and idioms used over and over: 

  • “Easy as pie”

  • “The real McCoy” 

  • “Open and shut case”

  • “Every Tom, Dick, and Harry”

  • “A picture is worth a thousand words”

  • “As common as sawdust around a sawmill.”

  • “Kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.”

  • “Work your fingers to the bone.”

  • “Blood is thicker than water.”

  • “Make a clean breast of it.”

  • “Speak of the devil.”

  • “Sacred cow.”

  • “Needed as a pen.”

  • “Naked as a jaybird.”

  • “Let sleeping dogs lie.”

  • “Out of sight, out of mind.”

  • “Red carpet treatment.”

  • “In the heat of battle.”

  • “Get up and go.”

Fact is, Halbert used cliches and idioms plenty. 

But he rarely used clever turns of phrase. 

Because why risk it?

Why risk making The Reader stop and think, even if only for a second? (Brass tacks, every time The Reader stops to “get it” you risk losing her attention forever.)

Unlike clever writing, colloquial expressions build a bridge to comprehension by making your copy more efficient, by helping you use fewer words to make a clear point.

In that way, cliches and idioms are tools for solving a specific communication problem. Use them as necessary.

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Eddie Shleyner 
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