‘At the end of the day’ is, according to popular vote, our most disliked cliché. Clichés are defined as hackneyed or overused phrases. As a book on usage puts it: language reflects thought. It even, to a large extent, controls thought. So, tired, unimaginative words suggest tired, unimaginative thoughts. Most of us are pretty tired by the end of the day — in both senses. Whenever I hear the phrase, I transform it to ‘at the beginning of the night’.
Managers use clichés. Sadly, …