Avoid them like the plague

You already know I can't stand excessive substitutes for the word "said". Here's something else that makes me want to pick up a book and beat myself black and blue. I see them so much in literature that I can't believe my eyes. They are so last year. Clichés. Recently, I saw so many of them in a book I was reading that I threw the book down in disgust. I see them in books that are very popular, and even by authors who are theoretically well respected. Sometimes, expressions such as these can be useful. You can even turn one on its head to make things interesting or funny. But most of the time, enough is enough.