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Description:

This video discusses clichés, overused sayings that should be avoided at all costs when writing your college application essay (and most other things too). It also gives tips for rephrasing so you can communicate the same idea without resorting to those pesky clichés.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Its college essay time.

00:02

Youve popped a squat and are ready to take the bull by the horns.

00:06

You feel like youve got an ace up your sleeve and all bets are off.

00:10

Uhyou may want to take five buddy.

00:13

Sounds like you may be cruisin for a bruisin.

00:16

Clich may be a French word but we Americans certainly seem to have welcomed the

00:20

practice into our own language.

00:22

A clich is anything that is overdone. Ehalmost. More like...a

00:26

common saying or turn of phrase that gets beaten to deathooh theres another one by

00:30

people who are too lazy or unoriginal to come up with their own way of saying something.

00:35

Its okay if the occasional clich shows up in your writing provided its not too

00:39

offensive but you should just stay away from them altogether when writing your college application essay.

00:44

If your paper is riddled with phrases like chaps my hide or pass the buck

00:48

or world of trouble youre going to be in aworld of trouble.

00:52

Because we can guarantee you that the people reading these essays are going to be

00:56

looking specifically for clichs such as theseand trust us they have very itchy marker fingers.

01:00

Okay sohow do you know if something is a clich Wellhave you heard it before

01:04

Is it something that might have been clever once but is now so overused that

01:09

the novelty has worn off Likethe novelty has worn off Taking the path of least

01:13

resistance sounds goodbut not the 500th time someone sees it.

01:16

So any time you find yourself about to use wording that feels oddly familiar Stop drop andrephrase.

01:21

But be carefulits not only words and phrases that are clich ideas can also be clich.

01:26

Are you writing about how you struggled early in school but then through hard work

01:30

and perseverance you turned things around Even if you dont use either of the phrases

01:34

hard work and perseverance or turned things aroundboth of which are clichs the topic itself is clichd.

01:39

Well of course you started succeeding once you put your nose to thestopped ourselves that

01:43

time once you began applying yourself.

01:46

They want you to go deeper than that.

01:49

Talk about your unique personal experiences and how they informed your particular viewpoint.

01:52

Dont write the same old predictable garbage that 90 of the other applicants are going

01:57

to be submitting. Stand out. Be you.

01:59

Butmaybe in small doses.

02:02

Okay so suppose youve got an idea and youre not sure how to communicate itother

02:06

than as a clich.

02:08

Youre trying to say that you want to put your best foot forward.

02:12

Lets break it down.

02:14

You know intuitively what that clich means buthow else to phrase it Well the clich

02:18

is saying that we have two feet or sides to ourselves.

02:22

Weve got the good version of ourselves andthe version of ourselves that is tempted to

02:26

make fart jokes in interviews.

02:28

The clich is saying that we should avoid the temptation of exposing our bad traits

02:33

while allowing ourselves to shine by putting our better aspects on display. Okay so...say that.

02:37

Or something like it.

02:39

It may be a tad wordier but it sounds a heck of a lot more

02:43

interesting more honest andmost importantlymore original.

02:46

So yeahits definitely easier to fall back on clichs.

02:49

Butthis getting-into-college business isnt supposed to be easy.

02:52

The practice of using clichs will make you look lazy unintelligent and disinterested.

02:56

So buck up dig in your heelsand get rid of those nasty little buggers. NOTE end of file

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