Quarterly email newsletter Clichéwatch is keeping writers on their toes with Google's help, using the search engine as a rough guide to the popularity of common clichés.

Current top clichés 'at the end of the day', 'going forward' and 'to be honest' all return around one million references on Google's search results.

Set up in 2003 by journalist Phil Cain, Clichéwatch aims 'to end the exploitation of phrases well past the age of useful employment'. Subscriber numbers have grown rapidly this year.

"There are many kinds of clichés, and some of them are just meaningless and laughable padding," said Mr Cain.

"Usually they work by making things sound more complicated, exciting or profound than they really are, or by being part of the lingo used by some informed elite to which the user belongs."

Learning to see through the cliché is essential for journalists, said Mr Cain, but they must also work hard to avoid using clichés themselves.

"Anyone who communicates professionally should be aware, no matter how tight their deadline, that the technology now exists to demonstrate just how derivative you are."

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Readers can subscribe to Clichéwatch by sending an email to cwsubscribe@vitalpublishing.com
Vital Publishing: http://www.vitalpublishing.com
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