Cliches Changed By Global Weirding

Idioms Updated for Climate Change

Ginny Hogan, January 21, 2019 edition, (The New Yorker)

“…[Some clichés need to be rewritten now. They include] • A rising tide floods all houses…• A bird in the hand is worth more than it used to be because they’re going extinct…• She vanished into oddly thick air!...• Stop and smell the flower…• A rose by any other name would wilt and die without water, which we’re running out of…• Can we please address the elephant in the room? Why has this elephant been displaced from Africa? It doesn’t belong in New York City…• Ugh, she’s giving me the tepid shoulder again…• There’s got to be at least one other fish left in the sea…

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• Let’s save it for a rainy day—and by that I mean let’s never, ever do it…• You can lead a horse to a dried-up reservoir, but you can’t make it drink dirt…• Who let the cat out of the bag? Please be more careful with her. She’s our last cat…• You’re on thin ice, buddy. In fact, we all are. If there’s a part of the world that still has thick ice, we need to know about it immediately…• You killed two birds with one stone! Unfortunately, those were the only two birds we had left…• Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss—damn it, we missed. Well, humans had a good run. Better luck next time…” click here for more

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