Superfluous Phrases – What Do They Mean & Why Do We Use Them?

By Jill Amadio

Often writers allow a well-known and well-worn phrase to trip off the tongue- or rather, onto the keyboard – to mark a particular moment in a story, just as we do in real life. In fact, to catch a moment in time, as in, “At this moment in time.”

What does that mean? Obviously, the first three words refer to a specific time frame, to the exact fraction of a second that is being noted. Exactly. It is a method for stating, or pointing out, that a moment is to be marked. All well and good.

 So why do we also need to add the words, ‘in time?’  Surely we are already talking, or writing, to pinpoint something that requires noting as to time. We want to make it stand out, with our ‘at this moment’ that alerts the reader to note the moment. Why, then, employ the redundant ‘in time’ to add to the statement? When else would it be happening if not ‘at…this…time?’

 If the ‘something’ happened earlier or later, the writer will be sure to note it, probably with a detailed following sentence or paragraph to explain the time lapse or hint at a future action.

Another hackneyed phrase that rather galls me is ‘Right now.’ This second phrase, in itself, poses another question – what do we mean by ‘right?’  The ‘now’ word is fully understood, but whence came ‘right’ in this sense? We often use ‘right’ as a confirmation in place of ‘correct,‘ to signify to the other person their words ring true, but it is rather inelegant. 

Here are other common phrases I don’t catch in my stories until perhaps my second or third draft:

Open any book, skim a few pages, and you are fated to come across ‘faded jeans,’ ‘a pale face,’ ‘the rugged terrain,’ or ‘winding road.’ These are all beautifully simple descriptions (a couple from Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls) that tell the reader in easy terms what we want them to know without going into unnecessarily exotic language.  Just writing a well-known phrase in the correct context can provide the reader with an instant understanding of what is meant.

One of my favorites is ‘standing pat.’ It makes no sense whatsoever on its face. Yet, it has a sense of mystery because ‘standing’ and ‘pat’ appear to have no relevance to each other, yet they belong together. And, incidentally, could provide us with the basis of a plot.

One can assume the phrase to be a description of someone named Pat. Was she standing up when the phrase was created? Was the word ‘with’ missing so that phrase may originally have been ‘standing with Pat?’ It does suggest a sense of loyalty, of being at the side of Pat. Yet, the word ‘pat’ has many meanings, as well as a person’s name, although I doubt it means ‘to pat’ as in patting a pet.

So many other phrases we use are hackneyed but perfect for the moment in time (sorry). Trying to find a substitute to avoid sounding boring can take up too much time, and even sound unnatural.

A foreign character’s use of phrases in their own language often introduces an interesting change of pace as long as there is a way to translate it, if necessary. This can easily be undertaken in conversation, while other remarks may not need any translation at all. In fact, we don’t realize that many words have become part of our own English language. Someone told me that English is based on German, while someone else swore it was based on Latin.

All that writers need to remember, I would say, is how rich and versatile English is, and how fortunate we are to be able to dive in and select whatever we choose.

 I recently bought an ebook from Amazon for my Kindle Fire, selecting a mystery at random. Not until the second chapter did I notice it was set in Norway and authored by a Norwegian.  Bravo!

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This article was posted for Jill by Jackie Houchin