Each time a cliche is repeated it looses part of its rhetorical power. You'd (and by you I mean I ) think that at a certain point along a cliche's asymptote any value it could offer would eventually drop to zero, but infinity rarely behaves in ways you'd expect. If I've lost any of you, don't worry, calculus was invented by an asexual occult theoretical physicist alchemist Englishman. Not that there's anything wrong with asexuals or alchemists etc, but those bloody English, hooligan's all of them, especially my granddad. So the sins of my father's fathers may explain why any explanation of the preceding sentences would be futile. I'm speaking English after all.
Everything diminishes over time, empires, hairlines, sexual virility, hard-ons, but I repeat myself and that's the thing isn't it? Not to put to fine a point on it, which as I have masterfully demonstrated is in no danger of occurring. Repetition is the mother of all boredom to simultaneously borrow and murder a phrase. In its more traditional form the said cliche also holds true. I share this first, because I am incredibly generous, and second, because it's Sunday night, what the fuck else am I gonna do?
The joy is in the journey and not the destination. The truth of this statement grows like the average bra size for women (for the sake of political correctness I should include men here too. There has been a dramatic increase of man tits recently compared to historical instances of man chests) in the western world. I'm not sure if something can become more true over time, but such is the mystique of the humble cliche. In the beginning a punch is just a punch, when you're learning to punch it is many things, when you've learned to punch a punch once again is just a punch. Punch on compadres.
Hasn't it been far more fulfilling for you to arrive at this moment of lucid insight with me, through arduous and unrelenting non-nonsensical verbiage? Would things have not been a tiny tad more dull, had I spoken off the cuff, on the nose, and called a shovel a shovel to begin with? I like wandering. I like meandering. I'm in no hurry to meet my final destination. I enjoy not being at the end, because that's the part where you (and by you I mean I) die.
The end.
2 comments:
Interesting discussion on the value of cliches and the merits of wandering. I disagree, though, that the value of cliches diminishes over time. Their value may change to a certain degree, but I don't think it ever diminishes to a point where it loses its inherent value. For instance, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" is a very valuable cliche in that it emphasizes the need to look at situations in an overall sense and not get tied up in details that might ruin the outlook entirely. And of course, as someone who tends to want perfection out of all aspects of life, I've struggled over the years with the tendency to do exactly that - throw the baby out with the bathwater (in a rhetoric sense, of course). And of course, there are many other cliches that are very valuable in handling situations that life throws at us all.
Regarding the "wandering" part of your post, I was definitely born under a wandering star, so I can relate completely to what you've said about that mindset. Staying in one place makes me feel stagnant, and experiencing the adventures that wandering brings makes me feel alive. I agree that "not all who wander are lost," and that "the joy is in the journey, not the destination."
Thanks for your insights. I really enjoy reading what you share on your blog with "all of us out here in cyberspace."
Hi Diane, welcome to The Blog.
I'm not sure that I agree with myself. The initial statement I made is just how I feel toward repetition in general. Lately I've done something that I've rarely ever done in the past: I've been consistent at doing productive things. And I've gotta tell you, doing the same thing over and over day after day has a way of sucking the joy out of life to a degree.
This is where the punch thing comes in (an idea I stole from Bruce Lee). All these cliches were said somewhere for the first time. Imagine the impact they made on the first hearers, enough for the statement to go viral so to speak. I guess there's the middle phaze after that, while they spread and secure a foothold until finally they enter the collective conscious and some people get tired of them. That's when they've made it, they've almost worn out their welcome: they're a cliche (the word has almost a negative connotation, but you're absolutely right they still have value as demonstrated by their longevity). It takes some serious zen mind/beginners mind to look at them fresh and see them once again for the first time, and that's what I'm trying to do with my situation right now. This is were the wandering helps. What road is going to lead back on to a path of me being pumped everyday to be doing what I'm doing? Don't worry I wont throw the baby out with the bathwater either. I'm just gonna keep on trucking. Cheers for the input.
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