A platitude is a statement that is seen as trite, meaningless, or prosaic, aimed at quelling social, emotional, or cognitive unease.
Platitudes have been criticized as giving a false impression of wisdom, making it easy to accept falsehoods:
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A platitude is even worse than a cliché. It’s a sanctimonious cliché, a statement that is not only old and overused but often moralistic and imperious. ... [P]latitudes have an aphoristic quality, they seem like timeless moral lessons. They therefore shape our view of the world, and can lull us into accepting things that are actually false and foolish.
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Platitudes often take the form of tautologies, e.g., "it is what it is", making them appear vacuously true. But the phrase is used to mean "there is no way of changing it", which is no longer a tautology: "Structuring the sentiment as a tautology allows it to appear inescapable." At the same time, some phrases that have become platitudes may provide useful moral guidance, such as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Others, though widely trivialized, may be thought-provoking, such as "Be the change you wish to see in the world".
Examples
- Thoughts and prayers
- It doesn't matter who scores, as long as the team wins.
- Good things come to those who wait.
Conjoining the platitudes on a topic may give a Ramsey sentence. Analyzing platitudes forms part of the Canberra Plan of philosophical methodology.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Jay J. Smith, A Plethora of Platitudes: A collection of cliches and an assortment of adages, Writers Club Press (self-published), 2000.
- James A. Chapman, Handbook of Grammar and Composition. Pensacola, FL: Beka Book Publications, 1985.
es:Pedro Grullo