[Ads-l] Goldwynism: I'm Sick and Tired of These Old Cliches. Let's Have Some New Cliches

[mr_peter_morris@outlook.com]

"New cliches"

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Reviewer/TaqYbb6Qy5oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22new+clich%C3%A9s%22&dq=%22new+clich%C3%A9s%22&printsec=frontcover

Probably 1921

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Possibly 1944

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Harper_s_New_Monthly_Magazine/bGgQAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22new+clich%C3%A9s%22&dq=%22new+clich%C3%A9s%22&printsec=frontcover

===================

Attribution to Goldwyn, probably 1948. Not sure of the month

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Journal_of_the_Royal_Institute_of_Britis/SBCwhQWd2wEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22new%20clich%C3%A9s%22&dq=%22new%20clich%C3%A9s%22&printsec=frontcover


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------ Original Message ------
From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 04/04/2026 20:59:09
Subject Goldwynism: I'm Sick and Tired of These Old Cliches. Let's Have 
Some New Cliches

>The remark in the subject line has been attributed to the famous
>Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn. "The New Yale Book of Quotations"
>has a pertinent entry under Samuel Goldwyn for "Let's have some new
>clichés" on page 333 with a 1983 citation. The entry also noted that
>"The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations" suggested that
>the remark was "perhaps apocryphal".
>
>The earliest ascription to Samuel Goldwyn I found appeared in an
>article by prominent gossip columnist Louella Parsons published in the
>September 1948 issue of “Cosmopolitan” magazine. Parsons used the
>initials S. G. when referring to Goldwyn:
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>I wouldn't, naturally, want to mention any names. But one of
>Hollywood's most alert producers, whose initials are S. G. and who, a
>little more than a year ago, got an Oscar for a particularly fine
>picture, has lately been belaboring his writers "to come up with some
>new cliches."
>[End excerpt]
>
>Two decades earlier in 1927, theater critic Harold E. Clurman wrote
>about the emergence of "new cliches" in plays, but this usage was not
>intended to be humorous.
>
>The notion of deliberately creating and employing “new cliches” was
>discussed by journalist Leonard Hall in 1936:
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>… we are busily trying to age some new cliches to fit these matters.
>[End excerpt]
>
>[Begin acknowledgement excerpt]
>… thanks to Stephen Goranson who accessed the 1948 citation in "The
>Observer". In addition, thanks to Vance Maverick who told QI about the
>1927 citation.
>[Begin acknowledgement excerpt]
>
>Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article.
>https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/04/04/new-cliches/
>
>Feedback welcome
>Garson O'Toole
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org