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Clichés are as trite and overused as the dictionary says they are. Still, why be a wet blanket about it? Stand up and fight for your language with The Cliché Rotation Project, a site near and dear to our hearts. We took to it like ducks to water, so much so that we're ready and willing to write a Pick about it. Join us and the Defective Yeti in a battle to replace clichés with new turns on old words. We present just a smattering of our favorites from CRP's new adages, truisms, and metaphorical malapropisms.

The Cliché Rotation Project's Best New Expressions
Rotated Out	Rotated In
Ready and willing	On it like a bonnet
Looks a gift horse in the mouth	Wants birthday cake on Christmas
It's a win-win situation.	Everyone gets ice cream!
More fun than a barrel of monkeys	More fun than 20 yards of bubble wrap
You made your bed, now sleep in it.	You poop it, you scoop it.

 

Submit your own replacements on the CRP webpage, and let's grease up those rusty clichés.

Maira Kalman's got style. The New York-based artist has created witty covers for The New Yorker; a now-iconic umbrella sold at MoMA; and exuberant children's books, often featuring the soulful antics of a poet-dog philosopher named Max. So it's not surprising that sparks flew when Maira encountered "The Elements of Style," the classic primer on writing by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. What is surprising, though, is how strongly the design enthusiast took to the little book. First, she astonished everyone by producing an illustrated version of the composition guide. Now, to our enormous delight, she's created a movie version. Yes, a movie version. The little tome on when to use commas, and where to inject quotations, and how to strip sentences back to their essential parts has been translated artfully to the (very) small screen. So settle back and enjoy. We like to think E.B. White himself would have approved.

It all started over lunch last year. Mary told Bryan how a particular song had been wrecked for her forever. One thing led to another, and according to legend—and MySpace—they "skipped dessert and registered the domain" for Ruined Music.

Fast forward a year. Hundreds of people have logged their achey-breaky tunes. Mary continues to handle the "word-and-grammar" parts. Bryan covers the "art-and-technology" pieces. And together, these two Brooklynites are still curating a vibrant web testament to songs painfully colored by their association with breakups, fights, death, tears, or any other brand of melancholy.

Having just celebrated its first birthday (with readings and beer and live bands, hopefully none of them blues-inducing), Ruined Music also boasts a brand new look, search functionality, and a random cat generator. Thank the big musician in the sky for kitties.

As for their own lost lullabies? Don't even try to play a certain Simon & Garfunkel song for Mary. And wild horses couldn't drag Bryan to a Tori Amos concert. Ever.