Cliches and stereotypes

 
Did you know the words cliché and stereotype come from the printing industry. A cliché was a set of words that were used together so often that the type was left set up ready to be inserted whenever required.

A stereotype was a large block of type - a duplicate impression of an original typographical element, used for printing instead of the original. The stereotype was invented by Firmin Didot. Over time, this became a metaphor for any set of ideas repeated identically, en bloc, with minor changes. ...