Cliches to avoid

The Public Relations Department at Lake Superior State University have issued a list of cliches to avoid in the new year. While I've never heard of Lake Superior State University, avoiding cliches is always a good thing to do. Saying that some event that involved coincidence is a "perfect storm" became the top cliche on their list. Here is one that I hadn't really thought through, but now makes perfect sense as one to avoid.

Other contributors took umbrage at the phrase to "give back" as applied to charitable gestures, usually by celebrities.

"The notion has arisen that as one's life progresses, one accumulates a sort of deficit balance with society which must be neutralized by charitable works or financial outlays," one said.