Here in Ingerland, the football ('soccer' if you must) season has once again kicked-off, so it's time to enjoy some well tried and tested bon-motes in the various forms of post match coverage. On the subject of favourite phrases, here's a 'well-crafted' piece from a few years back that might be reflected in some great bar-stool punditry:
It's the same old story isn't it? In a nutshell, we've had all and sundry who, by and large, and with all due respect, can't see beyond the end of their noses. They're in their ivory towers telling us that cliches are nothing to write home about (call me old fashioned) but I say hold your horses.
I might rock the boat and ruffle some feathers, but in this day and age, the conventional wisdom smells fishy to me. Indeed you might think that I've got bigger fish to fry or that I've got a chip on my shoulder, but cliches are meat and drink to me. Sure they can stick out like sore thumbs but mark my words (at let me say this loud and clear) a good, bad or indifferent cliche time and time again can warm the cockles of your heart.
I could bang on about this until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, when the chips are down, a cliche is par for the course. I realise I have I've got my work cut out but there's no two ways about it; to some, cliches might stink to high heaven, but I'll use them till hell freezes over. Graham Hopkins, The Guardian 03.01.2001
