> “Lives rent-free in my head” is a horrible cliche. Yes it is, much like "dumpster fire" or "toxic" or "gaslighting" or any other contemporary Reddit-isms tha

> “Lives rent-free in my head” is a horrible cliche. Yes it is, much like "dumpster fire" or "toxic" or "gaslighting" or any other contemporary Reddit-isms that are associated with hyper-reductionist cultural hot takes. My personal distaste for them, however, has no bearing on the fact that they have very real meaning and people enjoy using them. > By now, it has the same effect as saying “it’s nice” but uses lots more letters. The commonly-held meaning of this is that it describes a pervasive, intrusive thought, not a nice one. This particular turn of phrase is often used to describe how politicians devote energy to talking about other politicians that they don't like, for instance.