Corny?

The word corny doesn’t really mean something is like corn, so although pop-corn is made of corn it isn’t corny… corny means something which is banal, or trite, something which feels so unoriginal you could almost wince. I tend to think of it as being something which is almost painfully clichéd, the sort of thing you might find in some greetings cards, or on some social networking pages… actually there is a lot that is corny on social networking sites!

I think originally the word may have had some connection to corn, in the sense that whatever was being described was seeing as being from the country, unsophisticated, unoriginal… and apparently it hs been used in the present sense for about four hundred years. I am sure I have written plenty of things which are corny… usually when I’m ‘inspired’ and the words are rushing onto the page, sometimes my mind grabs the first and easiest adjective, phrase or metaphor… but I try as hard as I can to ruthless weed the corn from what I’m writing…

I came across this little phrase which I show on my featured photo in a series of linked words, lines and phrases around Salford Quays… Am I too cynical?