Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [69]
There is thus little advantage to using clichés, and there are disadvantages. Some clichés annoy some readers; and almost all clichés make sentences longer and more complex. Each one may not make much difference, but the extra mental translation that they require can add up. And clichés keep you from inventing your own original imagery, which would be helpful precisely because it's fresh to the reader.
P. Figurative Phrases
Most clichés and all metaphors (see p. 114) are figurative phrases: They use words and phrases that mean something other than their literal meaning (for instance, “like a bull in a china shop”). Figurative phrasing is sometimes helpful, but it's often dangerous precisely because it uses terms in their nonliteral sense. You should use figurative terms sparingly, and you should always be aware of the literal meaning as well as the figurative when you do use them.
1. Overrelying on the figure of speech instead of on a substantive argument
The first danger of the figurative was mentioned in the discussion of metaphors: Writers sometimes assume that the figurative usage will do the work of persuading people or explaining the proposal. But “allowing courts to decide this would be like putting a bull in a china shop” is not a complete argument; “courts should balance the freedom of speech and the need for individual privacy” is not a complete proposal. They become complete only when the writer answers the underlying questions: Exactly why are courts incompetent at deciding this? Exactly how should courts deal with speech that reveals private information about others?
If you had used literal language, e.g., “courts aren't going to do a good job of deciding questions like this,” you'd have seen the need to flesh out the argument. But figurative language, by hiding the literal meaning, can also hide this need.
2. Forgetting the literal meaning of the figurative phrase
The second danger is forgetting that the figurative phrase has two different meanings, and using the figurative meaning without realizing that the literal meaning will distract or confuse the reader.
a. Mixed metaphors, such as “the political equation was thus saturated with kerosene,” are one example of this.17 Standing alone, “the political equation” and “saturated with kerosene” would just convey their figurative meanings, and their literal meanings would be largely ignored. But when you put them together, readers will notice their incompatible literal meanings, and be distracted (and unintentionally amused). My favorite, possibly apocryphal, example: “This field of research is so virginal that no human eye has ever set foot in it.”18
b. Even a single figurative usage can have its literal meaning unintentionally highlighted by surrounding concepts: “The felony murder rule has been done to death in the literature” is either a weak (and macabre) intentional joke or a weak unintentional one. “Done to death” on its own just conveys its figurative meaning of “exhaustively covered,” but when it's used while discussing felony murder, readers will think of the literal meaning as well, and be distracted. The distraction might be justified if you think the joke is funny enough, but usually it isn't.
c. Figurative usages that allude to some literary work or historical practice may clash with their original meaning. To “decimate,” for instance, originally meant to kill every tenth person as a collective punishment (hence the joke that “You can tell the ancient Romans were tough—in their language, ‘to kill every tenth person as a collective punishment’ was one word”). The figurative meaning, which is “to dramatically reduce,” is now well established, but some people are still reminded of the old usage, which can either distract or annoy them.
Likewise, “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” is sometimes used to suggest that two cultures are irreconcilable. But Kipling's poem continues with “but there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth / When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they