"The wise always use a number of ready-made phrases, popular adjectives, verbs that you only know the meaning of if you live in the right set, which give a homely sparkle to small talk and avoid the necessity of thought. The Americans, who are the most efficient people on earth, have carried this device to such a height of perfection and have invented so wide a range of pithy and hackneyed phrases that they can carry on an amusing and animated conversation without giving a moment's reflection on what they are saying and so leave their minds free to consider the more important matters of big business and fornication."

- Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale, page 21