Obsessive over Cliches?

This will be my second article related to cliches. Truthfully, I had problems growing up. My Mom was a hippie as a teen. She heard segments of several different philosophies and read some books related to the subject. Of course, I had no reason to read said ancient book or watch said virtually black and white movie.

She threw out statements like, "Shit in one hand and dream in the other... You have shit." This was extremely insulting. I thought she was saying something derogatory about my character or making a statement about what a loser I am. Scorning her for several years, as an adult I approached her on the subject. Apparently, in her mind, she was saying, "Until making your dreams a reality... all you have is shit."

Wouldn't it be nice if all cliches made sense without additional explanation? Think about the apples and oranges debacle. Apples and oranges are not very different. They are both fruit grown on trees. Differences include: where they grow. Yet they are essentially the same. Therefore, saying something like, "We're talking apples and oranges," should not indicate a big difference. A big difference is apples and dinosaurs. No one would put those together. Difference include: fruit verses animal, being an apple verses eating apples and flourishing life-form verses extinct life-form.

Another questionable cliche is, "You don't have a snowballs chance in Hell." In order for this cliche to work a person has to believe Hell exists and it's hot. While we still understand the premise so I would like to recommend, "You don't have a snails chance in a salt mine." I contains a similar message, "odds are against you."

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