Claims Writing Coach: Avoiding Clichés

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Clichés are trite written or verbal expressions that are used over and over, eventually wearing themselves out and communicating very little. At first, a phrase is coined and gains popularity (e.g., “Enclosed please find,” “do not hesitate to call,” “point in time”). After a while, people tire of the phrase and it loses whatever luster it had.

The world of entertainment has created many phrases that have gone from often repeated and wildly popular (e.g. “make you an offer you can’t refuse,” “final answer?”, “fake news,” “master of my domain”) to overused. Clichés are the trash heap of a language.

So, if you want your writing to be cliche-free, make it a point to never use a phrase that you are used to seeing in print. In addition, stay away from the following phrases that have “worn out their welcome” – yet another cliche.

acid test
as soon as possible
back to square one
back to the drawing board
ballpark figure
better late than never
beyond a shadow of a doubt
bottom line
brainstorm
bread-and-butter issue
bury the hachet
can of worms
cost-effective
dealing with
dialogue
do’s and don’ts
escalates
expertise
eyeball (used as a verb)
feedback
few and far between
first and foremost
gentle reminder
get in on the ground floor
great success
grind to a halt
hands-on
hence
heretofore
hit the nail on the head
it’s a pleasure doing business with you
light of day
meaningful
next to nothing
no-no
not a minute too soon
overkill
point in time
putting the cart before the horse
richly deserved
state of the art
thanking you in advance
top dollar
tried and true
try it on for size
under review
viable
vitally important
welcome you with open arms
win-win situation

About Gary Blake

Gary Blake is director of The Communication Workshop, offering claims writing webinars and seminars to claims professionals throughout the US, Bermuda, Canada, and the UK. Blake is the author of The Elements of Business Writing (Pearson Education), used at more than 100 insurance companies. He has written about claims writing for a number of industry publications. His e-mail is garyblake725@gmail.com. More from Gary Blake

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