Anti-cliché
An anti-cliché is a literary device or figure of speech that twists the meaning or phrasing of a known cliché. Although not named as such by literary critics, many writers, comedians, and poets have made use of the anti-cliché to provide a memorable and often ironic phrase, line, or passage.
Another concept of the anti-cliché relates to the relative merit of any particular news story. A report that will likely garner interest in the target readership must be considered newsworthy; reporting similar trivial events does not generate a sufficient level of interest. The most prominent example of this is the Man Bites Dog paradigm. A daily newspaper would become increasingly stale if there were constant reports of dogs biting men, as the phrase suggests. However, the reverse concept of a man biting the dog is unusual, perhaps novel and hence particularly newsworthy purely due to the inherent irony of such an event.
Of course the above situation is highly metaphorical. In news reporting, trivial or expected stories would be dull and uninteresting. A good hypothetical scenario might involve Microsoft corporation purchasing a smaller company in a hostile takeover. Unless there was any facet of the subdued company that was particularly prominent, there would be few readers in the mainstream that would be likely interested in reading about the takeover, with the exception of those in financial and investment circles (dog bites man). Now if the situation were reversed (man bites dog), and a smaller or lesser known company were to take over Microsoft, or even a portion of its assets, then news and tabloid sources worldwide would most certainly report such an event in great detail.
Notable examples
- Peter Schickele's sign off - "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi." --a play on the words of jazz composer Duke Ellington
- "It's better to copulate than never" --Robert A. Heinlein
Categories
Clichés