German-English translations for floskel

bromide
us
My adviser at college was a bromide who had not had an original thought in yearsWe hoped the speech would include reassurances, but instead it was merely one bromide after another
cliché
us
The villain kidnapping the love interest in a film is a bit of a cliché.

empty phrase
empty words
platitude
us
rhetoricYou should realise that the defence of women is simply rhetoric when not confirmed by the facts. Man muß wissen, was man will. Die Verteidigung der Frau wird zu einer bloßen Floskel, wenn die Tatsachen eine andere Sprache sprechen. That must not be allowed to become a mere rhetorical phrase, but must be a living concept, and one backed up by verifiable criteria. Das darf nicht nur eine allgemeine rhetorische Floskel sein, sondern muss mit Leben, und zwar mit überprüfbaren Kriterien, erfüllt werden. It’s only so much rhetoric.
set phraseFor me, lifelong learning is far too often a set phrase and far too seldom a requirement, conspicuous by its absence from curricula and syllabuses. Life long learning ist mir viel zu oft Floskel und viel zu wenig Notwendigkeit, in Lehr- und Lernplänen fehlt das Ganze.

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