What can I use to replace the expression "Since the dawn of time"? [closed]

Question

What should I replace the clichéd expression "since the dawn of time" with?

Answer 1

Pretty much just about anything else will be an improvement.

Exceptions:

1. Your topic is the big bang.
2. Your topic is a creation myth like Genesis, Völuspá, etc.

Then you'll be merely boring, rather than boring and wrong.

3. You are making fun of the cliché. ("Since the dawn of time, writers have turned to clichés to get over the difficulty of starting essays.").

Then you've a chance of actually being funny, though you'll need to do better than me.

The worse thing about this cliché's use though is how very rarely it's relevant: Someone has to write an essay on some topic, and whether it's geopolitics, or the effect of fetish-wear sales on tannery profits, or particle physics they write "since the dawn of time, there have been wars", "since the dawn of time, people have gotten kinky in leather", "since the dawn of time, protons and neutrons have formed nuclei" and well, at least the last one is only out by a few minutes.

Who cares?

About 80% of the time it is used, it doesn't matter that the thing they are writing about has happened for a long time; its longevity has no impact on their observations or conclusion. Just cut the whole thing out.

About 80% of the time*, people are just plain wrong. Either the thing they are writing about is no more than a few centuries old or older forms are so different in significant ways to make talk of a connection irrelevant. Just cut the whole thing out.

About 1% of the time, when something began really is important or at least could give a genuinely interesting opening. Find out when it is, and use that instead.

The one thing in its favour is the one I joked about above, viz that it can help one get over the difficulty of writing the first few sentences. By all means start every first draft you ever write with "Since the dawn of time" if you find it helps with this, but make cutting it, and perhaps revising the entire first paragraph, the first edit you do.

More generally, this sort of opening is often an example of the idea of starting with the universal, which people are often encouraged to do. Don't. If you're going to take the starting-wide approach, aim one mental level higher than your point; e.g. if writing a political analysis of a television show, start with that television show more generally before focusing on the politics or the value of political analysis of popular culture before focusing on that show; if writing about a possible treatment for a particular disease, start with the disease and the whole range of treatments used for it, before focusing on the treatment you care about. The starting-wide approach can be a good one (though it's not the only good way to start a piece), but there's never any value in starting so wide that you're covering everything.

*Yes, that's more than 100%; many cases are in both categories.

Answer 2

Definitely a cliche, and said to be favored for the start of (poor quality) essays, though in the 1960 State of the Union the President used it as his concluding words.

The essential point being made is about the long length of time such-and-such has happened and this is usually hyperbole rather than factual.

An option is to do a bit more research and find the origin of the event or saying - even if approximate - and use that as the time marker.

Or you could attempt a more colorful phrase, such as inventing a more original version of "since Moses was a baby". Irony is often possible with hyperbolic phrases starting with "Since .." but what you do here depends on your general context or purpose: a formal essay, a roast, a serious event - all have different ideas about what is appropriate, and what sense of yourself you wish to convey.

Finally, almost any alternative will be better than "Since the dawn of time ..." so there is no downside.