Travel Writing Clichés

Wish you were here

Is it possible to write about holiday destinations without using clichés? Notice how many of these are boo or hooray words.

bustling Street markets, especially abroad, are bustling. Waiters are likely to scurry in this environment.

brisk At auctions, bidding is always brisk.

nestled Villages are always nestled somewhere.

grey Suburbs are inclined to be grey, because we disapprove of them.

belch Factories chimneys always belch smoke. We don't like them much either.

sleepy Fishing villages are always sleepy, and contain a huddle of whitewashed cottages. "We ate more fresh fish at a beachside restaurant in the sleepy fishing village of Sogut." Observer Feb 28 10

wind Narrow cobbled streets always wind up hills.

huddle Houses are always huddled on a mountainside.

fierce The local inhabitants are either fiercely proud, or fiercely independent. "The Polynesian aspect of our heritage is fiercely independent." Independent March 10

dutiful Monks are always dutiful, or make herbal liqueurs dutifully. (Sometimes for a change they're tireless or indefatigable.)

And choirboys are always suitably seraphic (angelic, cherubic).

pummel What waves to do coasts.

buffet What high winds do to practically anything.

folk are people distant from us in place or time. Or else they're rural and primitive. Townsfolk threw rotten veg at people in the pillory. Does anyone still write captions about "Local tribesmen and their womenfolk”?