LESSON 4: THAT’S ALL BEEN SAID BEFORE! BORING . . . ZZZZ

Words Relating to Unoriginal, Dull, Played Out

Banal• To wake up and realize your

adventure was all a dream is a banal ending for a short story.

• Have you heard the banal joke about the moron who threw the clock out the window in order to see time fly?

• Banality is boring because it’s so predictable.

Adjective

Dull or stale because of overuse; trite; hackneyed

Cliché • “I’m so hungry I could eat a

rhinoceros,” gives an original twist to an old cliché.

• Good writers avoid clichés like the plague.

• Lazy writers rely on clichés because it’s hard work to express ideas with fresh, new phrases.

Noun

An idea or expression that has become stale due to overuse

Derivative• “Write an original sci-fi story,”

instructed Mr. Schirmer, “not derivative fiction drawn from 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Time Machine.”

• Instead of presenting her unique artistic vision, Julie’s derivative work resembled paintings of the old masters.

Adjective

Unoriginal; taken from something already existing

HackneyedAdjective

Made commonplace by overuse; trite

• Only hack writers rely on hackneyed expressions. That’s what makes them hacks.

• Miss Cole, our poetry teacher, said, “Because poets aim to create new insights, they shun hackneyed language.” Then she added, “If you think imaginatively, you’ll avoid hackneyed phrases such as ruby lips and rosy-fingered dawn.”

Insipid• The conversation at dinner was so

insipid that Monica fell asleep at the table.

• What kept the Hagans from going to church on Sunday morning was the minister, whose insipid sermons made them want to go back to bed.

• What I thought would be a scary movie turned out to be an insipid story of a harmless ghost.

Adjective

Lacking flavor or taste; unexciting

Lackluster• Laura’s lackluster grades may

prevent her from going to a top college.

• The candidate’s lackluster speech failed to inspire the voters.

• Even a superior actor can’t enliven a lackluster script.

Adjective

Lacking vitality, energy, or brightness; boring

Mundane• In contrast to the new an unusual,

the mundane happenings of everyday existence are pretty dull.

• Woolf is an author who can find something magical even in such a mundane activity as brushing one’s teeth.

• The movies offer an escape from the mundane character of daily life.

Adjective

Commonplace; ordinary

Platitude• How Rick’s poem won an award for

originality boggles my mind, since it consists of nothing but platitudes.

• A platitude is as enriching intellectually as last month’s bread is satisfying nutritionally.

• A recipe to induce sleep is a monotonous voice and a plethora of platitudes.

Noun

Quality of being dull; an obvious remark uttered as if it were original

Prosaic• The novel Mr. and Mrs. Bridge is

an indictment of an ordinary American couple who lead the dullest, most prosaic life imaginable.

• A prosaic Sunday morning means sleeping late and lingering over a big pancake breakfast while browsing the Sunday newspaper.

• What is more prosaic than a movie and pizza on a Friday night?

Adjective

Dull; commonplace

Trite• Because my essay was filled with

clichés, Mr. Gill red-penciled “trite” all over it.

• When Bob asked what I thought of getting up at 4 A.M., only the tritest response came to me: “Well, they say the early bird catches the worm.”

• Mr. Gill claims that triteness is a sign of an air-filled brain.

Adjective

Unoriginal and stale due to overuse

Vapid• Behind every uninspiring, vapid TV

sitcom, you’ll find an empty-headed producer, director, and screenwriter.

• Tired of vapid advertising gimmicks, the company resorted to skywriting to promote its newest line of swimwear.

• The speaker’s vapid delivery emptied the conference hall within ten minutes.

Adjective

Lacking freshness and zest; flat; stale