‘The whole nine yards’

We commonly use the expression “the whole nine yards” to mean absolutely everything. The origin of this expression stems from the military. As Alan Axelrod writes,

The length of a complete standard .50-mm machine gun ammo belt: twenty-seven feet.
To feed the gunner the entire belt was to give him (or the enemy target) “the whole nine yards”; hence the popular expression for giving, getting, or doing absolutely everything.

from – Alan Axelrod, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: the Real Language of the Modern American Military. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2013, p. 205.

G-d is love?

No.

G-d loves. G-d has love. Love is one of His qualities.

But G-d is so much more than love.

Literally turned upside down

An interviewee on television said, “At that point, my life was literally turned upside down.”

Literally? Really?

Thank you. – Thank you.

Someone is interviewed on TV. At the end, the interviewer thanks their guest. “Thank you for being here tonight.”

So often, the person who is being interviewed responds, “Thank you.”

What happened to “you’re welcome”?

A Total Catastrophe!

A politician described an opponent’s bill in Congress as “a total catastrophe.”

What is this? A case that can’t get any worse? Is there such a thing?

A Spoken Cliché – “gone viral”

Suggestions:

“It has spread like a virus,” or
“It has spread like an epidemic,” or
“It has spread like weeds.”

Plot Clichés – Beautiful, Long Tresses & Men’s Ties

Women who are leading characters in films and on TV appear with the long hairstyles of the 2000s even when it’s not practical.

We see excellently trained women, and special operatives, fight hand-to-hand combat and wear their hair in long, flowing tresses, but no opponent yanks them around by the hair.

In the same vein, women detectives with long hair – it’s not safe, practical, etc.

In addition, medical examiners and female detectives examine dead bodies and crime scenes but never consider that they might soil their hair or contaminate the scene.

The above also applies to men’s ties.

Wardrobe folks: Have the men tuck their ties between the buttons of their shirts. Thanks.

 

A Plot Cliché – “No, I have to see you”

Someone who has information for the police says, “I need to tell you something. Can you meet me?”

The officer responds, “Why don’t you just tell me now?”

In answer, the informant says, “No, I have to see you.”

In the meantime, informants are killed and take their secrets to the grave.

A Plot Cliché – “We can protect you”

A witness is afraid of retribution by a criminal, so a police officer or district attorney says:

“If you tell us, we can protect you,” or
“If you testify, we can protect you.”

Really? More often than not, the witness is assassinated soon after.

A Spoken Cliché – literally

“We literally had a snowstorm in April in Kansas City.”
As opposed to a figurative snowstorm?
Simply, “We had a snowstorm in April in Kansas City,” or
“We actually had a snowstorm in April in Kansas City.”