Cliché Play: More Fun than a Barrow (Barrel) of Monkeys

Business: Good to great.
Journalism
Below: from Forbes magazine:

• 1. It’s a paradigm shift = I don’t know what’s going on in our business. But we’re not making as much money as we used to.
  2. We’re data-driven = We try not to make decisions by the seat of our pants. When possible, we try to base them in facts.
  3. We need to wrap our heads around this = Gosh, I never thought of that. We need to discuss that….
  4. It’s a win-win = Hey, we both get something out of this (even though I’m really trying to get the best from you)

How do you avoid clichés? Play with them until they bite or you lose an eye.

Yogi Berra was a player:

• Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.
• I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.
• I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
• Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded.
• You can observe a lot just by watching.
• When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
• You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there.
• You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours.
•  If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them.
•  The future ain't what it used to be.
• If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be.
• Mrs. Lindsay – “You certainly look cool.” – Yogi Berra – “Thanks, you don’t look so hot yourself.”
• This is like deja vu all over again.
• It ain’t over till it’s over.
• Stephen Wright :
• I took a physics course that was so hard I couldn't find the classroom.
• Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country.
• If you can't hear me, it's because I'm in parentheses.
• I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five
• If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
• I got pulled over by a cop, and he said, 'do you know the speed limit here is 50 miles per hour?'. So I said, 'oh, that's OK, I'm not going that far.
• On the other hand, you have different fingers...
• I got a new shadow. I had to get rid of the other one -- it wasn't doingwhat I was doing.I xeroxed a mirror. Now I have an extra xerox machine.
• "Did you sleep well?" "No, I made a couple of mistakes."


• I like to reminisce with people I don't know. Granted, it takes longer.
• I have a hobby...I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it...
• I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it
• I can levitate birds. No one cares.