130: stereotype Apr 17, 2015

The words 'stereotype' and 'cliche' comes from French typesetter jargon. 'Stereotype' comes from the French, 'stéréotype', a printing plate cast in a mold made from composed type or an original plate. To stereotype something, was to copy it again and again, which is where the sense of oversimplifying a group of people comes. 'Cliche' comes from the French onomatopoeic word 'cliché', mimicking the sound of the printing presses which was used to mean stereotype (as in printing), and then, relating to the repetition of printing the exact same thing many times in a row, meant, as it does today, something "that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought"