Some folks interested in lessening the loads sent to landfills have declared today Another Look Unlimited Day. Their goal? To encourage everyone to look over their possessions and think of alternative uses for items rather than discarding them. Before we look over our tangible goods, we'll pass along two words (admittedly intangible goods) whose usefulness inspired word lovers to find a fresh place for them in our lexicon.

The modern cliché names "a trite or stereotyped phrase or expression, or the idea expressed by it," but do you know that sense developed from another, no longer common cliché? The French clicher, meaning "to stereotype," was an onomatopoeic verb born in the noise of the die striking the metal in a stereotype or electrotype. When cliché was borrowed into English, it named a stereotype or electrotype. Although stereotypes no long clatter throughout the land, the sound of clichés can still be heard.

Our second term is closely linked to our first. The original stereotype, also from French, named the plate used for making type in printing. The idea of reproducing something without variation inspired a variation in meaning of its own, and during the heyday of mechanical typesetting, stereotype came to refer to "a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment."