According to Merriam-Webster, a cliché is defined as:
1: a trite phrase or expression;
2: something that has become overly familiar or commonplace
The phrase – “You are a cliché” is so cliché. People don’t use that phrase anymore unless they are writing. No, if someone is in your face, you might just get a “whatever”. I know I am setting myself up for this but there is no word in the English language that I despise more than “whatever“. It is one of the most demeaning and callous things that you can say to another human being. When someone says “whatever”, what I hear is:
You don’t matter;
That thing you just said, I couldn’t be bothered to listen;
You have nothing to add and if you try, it will be wrong and dismissed summarily (sigh)
Have architects become cliché? Am I a whatever? I go out of my way to avoid the labels that so commonly define architects:
I don’t own any turtlenecks
I wear glasses that have silver frames
I have the tan of a pagan sun-god and not the milky white skin from someone who sits in front of a computer all day
I like color in my projects (but with some restraint, not like an explosive bowel movement from a clown)
I am not ironic, sullen or angst-y (is that even a word?)
I am a very serious person but I endeavor to come off as funny
I almost know more about music than architecture
I don’t understand or comprehend the work of Zaha Hadid and I don’t care if I ever do
uhm .. I hate trees and the environment
Okay that last one isn’t true … I love trees AND the environment (damn it!) However I do fit the architect stereotype in these ways:
I like rectilinear spaces more than curvilinear spaces
I have several moleskin notebooks that I use almost daily
I use unnecessarily large words when simple ones could suffice (see! I just did it)
I like white and beige spaces
I like stainless steel
I like Modernism
I do own a lot of black clothing (in my defense, it is slimming and I have white hair that really pops when I wear black)
I have a Jack Spade messenger bag
I hate ballpoint pens and go out of my way to have a Sharpie brand pen within reach at all times
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Holy Crap – I am cliché! But I am not a “whatever”. If I’m talking it’s because I have something that’s super important to ahh, well … hmm. to say..? That’s not really true because I talk a lot and most of the time it’s for my own benefit. If you want to know what time it is, I’ll tell you how to build a clock or that the Babylonians were probably the first to invent the sundial but it was the Egyptians who came up with the obelisk, which took telling time to a whole new … dang it! See what I mean?
Since maybe I need to embrace my inner cliché, I have collected some of my favorite trite and commonplace sayings:
Measure twice, cut once
Sarcasm is just one more service we offer
It is what it is
I started out with nothing & still have most of it left
At the end of the day …
You can’t eat your cake and have it too
cash cow
low hanging fruit
the bottom of the barrel
work smarter not harder
skeletons in the closet
Wow – those are terrible … you should avoid cliché’s like the plague! unless they are coming from your friendly neighborhood architect
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