IN a post budget radio interview a meandering politician injected a certain morbid fascination into the usual weary rhetoric by using "at this moment in time" on six occasions during the three minute conversation. Is this a record?
Possibly not, but he was certainly pushing the boat out in the grotesque over use of a tiresome cliche. Oops! Cliches are, of course, unavoidable and, dare one say it, grist to the mill of language.
In a recently published dictionary a Ms Betty Kirkpatrick has drawn together every backfull expression under the sun (sic) in an entertaining, yet scholarly, examination of the origins, use and misuse of cliches.
The expression "laughing all the way to the bank" is apparently a corruption of "crying all the way to the bank", popularised by piano player Liberace in the mid 1950's. The performer, prone to excesses of tearful emotion during his shows, was indicating his pleasure at being awarded £35,000 damages against the Daily Mirror. The dictionary, containing many wry business references, is published by Bloomsbury at £18.99 sterling. Worth every penny at the end of the day!
