Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

66%
+2 −0
Q&A What to do with cliched metaphors?

See if you can add a twist. One time Harlan Ellison wrote: She looked like a million bucks. Realizing what a horrible cliche that was, he changed it: She looked like a million bucks, tax ...

posted 9y ago by Dale Hartley Emery‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:25:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18085
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Dale Hartley Emery‭ · 2019-12-08T04:25:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
See if you can add a twist. One time Harlan Ellison wrote:

> She looked like a million bucks.

Realizing what a horrible cliche that was, he changed it:

> She looked like a million bucks, tax free.

For a lame example (that twists the cliche by adding another one):

> It sometimes felt as if we spoke different languages. British English and American English.

**ETA:** This idea is useful sometimes. Lauren Ipsum's idea is useful all the time. Y'all should go upvote that one.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-07-08T16:41:16Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 10