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Clichés? These are "sayings" no? "Expressions".
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cliché

While yes many expressions are clichéd, not all clichés are expressions...

Just thinking out loud... ;)

So, what would you count as a cliche?

Hrm... Good question. Going over the list again, as well as the definition I linked - and thinking about it some more - I must say I guess I have an addendum to the definition of cliché. To me it's anything - an expression, a behavior, a style, etc - that not only is stripped of originality or "force" due to overuse, but also meaning.

Anything pre-fabricated, drop-in that one uses in one's communciation/interaction without really knowing what it means; vacuous in a way, a cop-out response.

Expressions can be clichéd, but so can modes of dress or ways of interacting. Fuzzy dice. "Rebels" wearing jeans and biker jackets. Being overly macho, as well as being overly sensitive. Again, taking any previously manufactured "reality" and applying it. (The successful way of using a cliché is to do it tongue-in-cheek, of course...)

I just didn't find any of the expressions listed particularily "clichéd". Sure they're old and used but they are pretty much just truisms, or valid observations. A cliché is manufactured... I think...

Hrm. It's subtle, and subjective I guess. And of course all of this is merely my current opinion.

That said, I think "cliché" is clichéd itself. It is a by-product of manufactured pop-culture. Like CO2 from a car.

Gees, I am rambling here... I'm gonna go revisit some McLuhan texts, as well as try to remember what U2's Bono had to say about it back in the PopMart days...

:)

Here's one guy's operational definition:

I have my own test to see if a phrase is a cliche or not. I read the first half of the sentence, then I ask myself, "do I just know (because everyone knows) how the sentence ends?" Someone recently submitted, "The gene pool could use a little chlorine." I knew this wasn't a cliche because when I say, "The gene pool could use what?" I don't know how to end the sentence.

And here's another guy's list of 'em.

Very cool to see the French expressions and interesting to think about the definitions of the expression and its subset, the cliche. When I first read Shakespeare, I'd read a lot of other English literature but hadn't studied it formally. One of my reactions was "Why does this guy use so many cliches? 'All's Well that Ends Well' indeed." ;-) So the point about the relative nature of the cliche is, I think, well taken.

I am bilingual in English and Chinese, but English is my native language. One of the reasons I've found it difficult to become a good writer of Chinese prose is that one of the markers of good written Chinese is the skilful use of sayings, which often come from very ancient parables and fables (earlier than Aesop, though the analogy to 'sour grapes' does stand). You have to understand the sayings (which are in ancient, not modern Chinese) and use the appropriate one for your meaning. It goes very strongly against the English ideal of using language in a creative way and avoiding using the "voice" of other writers.

The Chinese sayings are wonderfully colorful but don't always have a direct English equivalent, so I'm not sure you could do the same kind of list. Some of my favorites: "If the lips are destroyed, the teeth will get cold" (everything is interdependent); "Guarding a stump and waiting for a rabbit" (trusting to chance instead of hard work); "Doing the Handan walk" (making oneself ridiculous by imitating others rather than being oneself).

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