Hackneyed is a word for language that doesn't
pack a punch since it's overused and trite.
"Roses are red, violets are..." — enough
already?! That's hackneyed stuff.
Hackneyed is usually used to describe tired writing, but you can also refer to the hackneyed
plots of television sit-coms or the hackneyed jokes of your Uncle Fred. But, most often, you
will see hackneyed before the word phrase to refer to a specific cliché that is annoying the
heck out of someone
DEFINITIONS AND USAGE EXAMPLES
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Pronunciation: [\ˈhak-nēd\]
Lacking significance through having been repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
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syn: banal, commonplace, stock, tired, trite, unoriginal, clichéd, stereotyped, pedestrian
“a hackneyed phrase”
“Maybe it's time to trot out that hackneyed phrase about ‘the pace of modern life.’”
Directions: Discuss the meaning of the word with your students, with special emphasis on any
variations or nuances of the word specific to your discipline. Consider taking it a step
further by using one or all of the following ideas as you involve students with the new
vocabulary. Remember to preview all content you intend to share with
students. Not all items on the lists provided below are appropriate for all
classes or age levels.
There are eight (7) activity ideas:

(Business)
“How Smart Girls Get On Corporate Boards”
Advice includes: start young, be strategic, understand headhunters, create
digital footprints, go global, bank on a start up, get even smarter, and host a
schmoozefest. And, more specifically:
Click on the picture to link to the article.
From Forbes.com, 19 May 2014
“In lieu of hackneyed and sometimes awkward mentoring relationships,
consider becoming what’s popularly called a ‘reverse mentor.’”

(Science)
“In Science, There Are No Holy Grails”
The author of this article discusses the merits of scientific pursuit by comparing it
to the quest for the Holy Grail.
The author states that “… annoyed at having read the phrase in an article for the
umpteenth time, I tweeted that ‘[w]hen I am the dictator of Science Journalism, I
am outlawing the phrase ‘X is the Holy Grail of Y.’ I mean it, too. And not just
because it’s a hackneyed cliché. I’d outlaw it because searching for the Holy Grail
is, in fact, the antithesis of science.”
And he uses quotes from important people to further
support his argument:
Differences he details include:
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Science is a Populist Pursuit

Science Welcomes Diversions

Click on the picture to link to the article.

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Science is Neverending
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Isaac Asimov
Sir Humphrey Davy
From Forbes.com, 12 August 2011

(Business/Social Science)
“Reading This May Be Your Only Non-Sales
Activity Today”
In this interview, Daniel H. Pink (A Whole New Mind, Driven) talks with Inc.
editor-at-large Leigh Buchanan about his latest book, To Sell Is Human, and
the ubiquity of sales today.
When discussing the traits of successful salespeople and entrepreneurs, Pink
says, “What I learned, and it sounds a little hackneyed--is how important
listening is in every kind of endeavor. No one teaches us how to listen.”
Click on the picture to link to the article.
From Inc. 28 Jan. 2013

(Social Studies)
Scottish Independence Referendum:
The Global View
How nations from Spain to China view the possible
effects of [the] vote
The author believes that “clearly, the US is still
clinging to centuries-old resentments from its own
rebellion against the Empire a few hundred years
back. Hence certain easy equivalencies and
hackneyed caricatures have crept into US coverage
of the Scottish referendum.”
From The Guardian, 17 September 2014

(English)
Try this quick word-choice exercise with your students.
Have them rewrite this short passage, replacing the
hackneyed phrases with fresh and original wording,
preferably full of imagery.

(English/General)
Fun and quick.
Give students 30 seconds (or 1 minute) to rewrite as
many of these hackneyed phrases as they can, using
fresh and original phrasing, in as many ways as they
can.
This might work well as a bell-ringer, or a transition
activity in class, or a fun activity for seminar that is also
academically based.
Have them write before sharing and you are working on
writing to learn as well!

(Art/Design)
Have your students look at these examples of hackneyed design choices for marketing and promoting movies. Are they
effective when used so often? Keeping in mind the theme (i.e. A Longer Viewed from behind), have students write (or
sketch) ideas for a fresher, more original way to market the movie, focusing on the same theme.
OPPOSITES ATTRACT