All right, whether it was a mistake or not is a futile speculation since the ultimate authority is no longer. Still I would like to express my belief that the strength of an utterance much depends on its precision and linguistic propriety. To futher illustrate this statement I believe that language has the power to unlock the hearer's/reader's heart and mind as much as a regular key has the power to unlock the regular ... lock. The key is the more effective the more it matches the lock for which it was meant which is to say figuratively that idioms used should match exactly idioms coined, learned and in common circulation. In my opinion the artistry consists in being able to use them and still avoid the CLICHE like impression. The simplicity of means does not preclude an artist from creating wonderful things. On the contrary, elaborate form blurrs and weakens the content. Sorry for being longwinded and overbearing but I am rather sensitive about this. Not because I am an artist of any kind or even a connoisseur but for a wholly different reason. In my lifetime I am witness to my language being under siege from... you guessed it, English. My language goes under big time and to my horror the English idiom is for some unfathomable reason often nearer at hand than, and preferred to, the local one. Clarity of communication suffers. The national treasure trove falls apart. (The idiocy of this process reaches its pinnacle in the song industry, where English lyrics practically replaced the vernicular, inevitably turning both the performers and their audience, who but seldom understand what the song is about, into a bunch of monkeys) That's why I am all in favour of the imposition of a worldwide embargo on... idiom trade :-D
