No one ever says, "I'll be right with you"--unless they won't, eh? I understand that what they're really doing is recognising that I'm being get waiting and indicating, ritualistically, that they'd like to minimise the wait, so I resist responding, "No, you won't, or you wouldn't say it." In Chinese, as I remember, the presence or absence of the question-particle (ma) tells you whether someone who asks, "How are you?" wants a ritual or real answer. Gambits is the ESL term for such like, isn't it? I remember standing at a bus stop in rural China, having just said "Ni hau" ("How are you?) to the others who were waiting, only to overhear one peasant say to another, "See, I told you foreigners always say, 'Ni hau.'" At 04:55 PM 02/11/2006 -0330, you wrote: >Roger Graves wrote: > >>I have been asked to participate on a radio show tomorrow in a segment on >>cliches in honor of National Cliche Day. Does anybody out there have any >>old chestnuts they would like to share? Any favourite student phrasings? >>I await your responses with baited breath. >> >>Roger Graves > >Have you ever noticed how people who start their stories with "To make a >long story short..." routinely fail to do so? That's a cliche with >irony... To me, though, some of the most insidious and detestable >cliches are the relatively new ones born in political backchambers and >corporate boardrooms. "Window of opportunity" comes to mind (and there >are lots more where that one comes from...) > >Ginny Ryan -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties, write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask] For the list archives and information about the organization, its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-