Cliche of the Week 121 – Gone Ballistic

The incidence of cliches, those tired phrases that flow too easily when writing a news story, is steady and not quite ballistic.

Similarly, the use of ‘gone ballistic’ isn’t that common worldwide but it’s a regular, with about 20 appearances a month.

“The sport (stand-up paddling) has gone ballistic across inland USA on rivers and lakes.” (Sunshine Coast Daily, January 11)

“A packed King’s Hall, that unsurpassed, passionate colosseum of boxing, had gone ballistic when Rinty (Monaghan) knocked out Scotland’s Jackie Paterson in the seventh” (Belfast Telegraph, December 8)

On plastic skins for cigarette packets: “Since the new packs arrived in stores in October, Mr Osmond says demand has gone `ballistic’.” (Financial Times, November 29)

“Not surprisingly, union workers here have gone ballistic” (Vancouver Sun, November 3)

“Los Angeles actress Jennifer Garner is said to have gone ballistic when husband Ben Affleck said he’s still in touch with former flame Jennifer Lopez.” (Daily Tribune, Bahrain, November 1)

“A sure sign that a video game has gone mainstream is when there is a live-action series made about it. And the Halo franchise . . . has definitely gone ballistic.” (Today, Singapore, October 10)

Cliché of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays. Chris Pash’s book, The Last Whale , a true story set in the 1970s about Australia’s last whaling station and the activists who fought to close it, was published by Fremantle Press in 2008.