What does "canned phrase" mean?

Kay

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I'm going through my first round of edits on my debut novel, so my experience with some lingo is zero.

Twice, the editor highlighted part of a sentence and wrote "canned phrase". Help! What is a canned phrase? Even my buddy Google couldn't help me.
 

Torgo

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Parametric

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To my ear, a "canned phrase" is cliched and trite.
 

kenpochick

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A canned phrase is essentially a phrase that is pre-written. You've opened it up and inserted it into your text. "Within the realm of possibility," "In my humble opinion" etc. I hope that makes sense. :)
 

Kay

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To my ear, a "canned phrase" is cliched and trite.

My editor also wrote "cliche" in three other sentences, so I didn't think the two had anything to do with each other. My God, I have a lot to learn.
 

Parametric

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My editor also wrote "cliche" in three other sentences, so I didn't think the two had anything to do with each other. My God, I have a lot to learn.

:tongue It's tricky to judge how much explanation to give when you're editing. Sometimes I give a detailed explanation of something and the author thinks I'm treating them like an idiot, but if I don't explain, inevitably the author hasn't come across that term before.
 

Jamesaritchie

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A canned phrase is a cliche, but the "canned" part comes from "canned" laughter on TV shows. Pre-recorded laughter, in other words.

It's a setup, in other words. A "canned phrase" is just a cliche that's used for a common situation or condition. Like the canned laughter, it's used, even when not warranted. A joke isn't funny, but the canned laughter laughs, anyway. The situation really needs a better line, but but the canned phrase is used, anyway.
 

Kay

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All of your info helped A LOT, everyone. Thanks!
 

Quentin Nokov

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Very informative and a good link. Thank youKay for starting the topic and all who replied. I never heard of canned phrase before, either!
 

eselle

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Great link, and great advice here. I sometimes worry about things like this, so having a guide to work with is a great help!