TY - JOUR T1 - Sick as a parrot JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 647 LP - 647 VL - 54 IS - 505 AU - Neville Goodman Y1 - 2004/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/54/505/647.2.abstract N2 - ‘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, … ER -