[x]

"At the end of the day" originated in Britain. It was strange to see an English politician say "at the end of the day, you have to be able to live with your conscience" and think, "here's someone who takes the long view of things" and then realize later that everyone over there throws the phrase around, sort of like "in the final analysis." It's a way of saying "that's all I have to say about the matter, so let me stop here."

Cliches abound in business (push the envelope, think outside the box, proactive) and politics (gravitas, incisive) and anywhere people have to talk when they don't have anything to say. Originally they were once fresh and novel, but excessive use has worn them away. The first person to apply the Roman concept of "gravitas" to Presidential politics was very insightful, but today it's a word commentators use when the don't know or want to say what they mean.

During the Clinton impeachment, every political analyst talked about him using the "bully pulpit" of the Presidency during the State of the Union. If people talked about him using the speech as a "pulpit" it might raise a lot of questions about a disgraced leader preaching to the rest of us. But "bully pulpit" is so fossilized or entombed as a cliche that it's less evocative than pulpit alone would be. Don't use it unless you're Theodore Roosevelt or are in the habit of using "bully" or "ripping" to mean "good" or "fine."

"One night stand" is another annoying phrase, people use to avoid saying just what they mean. People who don't actually have a background in vaudeville should avoid it.

[EUPHORIC]

Personally I'd have opted for the stale "thats whut I'm tawkin about" thing that everyone is doing every three minutes...

[Revolting cat!]

Sometimes I think that what we mean by having "social skills" or practicing the "art of conversation" (in the mundane everyday sense not the My Dinner with Andre type,) is the ability to exchange with a straight face series of the most overused cliches. I started pro-actively (# 1) avoiding like fire (# 2) the watercooler exchanges (# 3) at the office, when I discovered that any attempt to make them interesting by subverting the usual cliches only shocked and awed (# 4) people, some of whom who might be later signing my pink slip or 2.5% raise.

[tet68]

Vote for John Kerry, like, at the end of the day, you'll be glad you did!

I like it, catchy, a real eye opener.
Hey DU, give it a try!

[reelfoot]

I had wanted to bring "closure" to this discussion while the topic was still current, but now I see it's "toast." ("If I'm lying, I'm dying.") "Do you know where I'm coming from?"