@unagi 想起来之前 Word Power Made Easy里面有关于cliché的，但好像还是不完全跟“废话”一样，大概不同语言就是不可能做到一一对应的吧

“A cliché is a pattern of words which was once new and fresh, but which now is so old, worn, and threadbare that only banal, unimaginative speakers and writers ever use it. Examples are: fast and furious; unsung heroes; by leaps and bounds; conspicuous by its absence; green with envy; etc. The most devastating criticism you can make of a piece of writing is to say, “It is full of clichés”; the most pointed insult to a person’s way of talking is, “You speak in clichés.”
A bromide is any trite, dull, and probably fallacious remark that shows little evidence of original thinking, and that therefore convinces a listener of the total absence of perspicacity on the part of the speaker.
For instance, some cautious, dull-minded individual might warn you not to take a chance in these words: “Remember it’s better to be safe than sorry!”
Your sneering response might be: “Oh, that old bromide!”
A platitude is similar to a cliché or bromide, in that it is a dull, trite, hackneyed, unimaginative pattern of words—but, to add insult to injury (cliché), the speaker uses it with an air of novelty—as if he just made it up, and isn’t he the brilliant fellow!
An anodyne, in the medical sense, is a drug that allays pain without curing an illness, like aspirin or morphine. Figuratively, an anodyne is a statement made to allay someone’s fears or anxieties, not believed by the speaker, but intended to be believed by the listener. “Prosperity is just around the corner” was a popular anodyne of the 1930s.
A bromide is also a drug, formerly used as a sedative. Sedatives dull the senses—the statement labeled a bromide comes from a speaker of dull wit and has a sedative effect on the listener. The adjective is bromidic (brō-MID′-ik), as in “his bromidic way of expressing himself.”

（顺便5000字上限真的太爽了，引用随便贴啊！