A confession: I don't normally read the Romenesko "Letters" section. Too much stridency in one place makes me twitchy. Too much sanctimony. Too many kelly green page elements. Too much sans serif font.

But sometimes there are hidden gems, like this letter from Lauren Glenn:

Now I could be wrong. I'm just a 20-something rookie reporter. But, is it just me, or is the term "crack cocaine" becoming something of a cliche?...I know it's hard, guys, having to sacrifice much-loved terminology to the trash can of cliches, and recognize that your favorite phrases are no longer considered inventive. But good Lord, people. Don't you realize it's 2005? METH is the new crack cocaine of crack cocaine, not crack cocaine.

And she's right. Meth IS the new crack cocaine. But I don't need to tell you that.

While we're at it, I'd like to take this opportunity to arbitrarily complain about my personal bête noir of clichés: the Guilty Pleasure.

The Guilty Pleasure can be routinely found in service-oriented magazines and may be used to label everything from slightly overpriced hand lotion to celebrity reality shows to obscure truffle oil infusions. It is not, however, EVER used to describe anything that would induce actual guilt or any substantial level of pleasure in a normal human being. Real guilty pleasures, if you're wondering: kinky porn, kleptomania—and, hey, METH! The Guilty Pleasure is, in short, the most anti-climactic of all clichés. It promises something scandalous, but it doesn't deliver.

It's almost as bad as starting a fairly innocuous essay with the titillating phrase, "A Confession:"

Crack Cocaine Is So Last Century [Romenesko]