Is anybody just murdered, anymore? Every time I see the word murdered in a news story, it’s always “brutally murdered.”
There must be a straightforward (if not wholesome) way to murder. Must be. Shape up, murderers. Or, more likely, writers. It is, after all, an old copy editor’s complaint.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
You cannot fight this successfully. And, after all, it is easier for the reader if old standard turns of speech are used 😉
And so it goes.
Probably, but old copy editors are nothing if not persistent.
Cliches, all. Stamp ’em out, I say, stamp ’em out!