Wit's End, Wits' End, Wits End?

Yes! Wits' end. You are at the end of your plural wits. Wit: knowledge, reasoning power, intelligence. Wits, the plural, usually refers to sanity or sense. Merriam Webster allows it either way; "at one's wit's end" or "at one's wits' end", however, "wits' end" seems to be more common, especially when used to mean that you are at the end of sane thought.

Why not just say, "I'm so cliched"?

I'd rather be at the end of my rope than the end of my wits. At least I'd have something to grab onto.

it thought s' had been stamped out of existence and all those that used it killed and left in a quivering pile?

bettielee said:

it thought s' had been stamped out of existence and all those that used it killed and left in a quivering pile?

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Naw, that was yesterday...

To elaborate on my earlier post, if the phrase is being used in dialogue, and is important to characterization of the person speaking, concern for the proper spelling of the phrase is justified. But keep in mind the story's acceptance likely won't hinge on this phrase, and there will be professional editors going over the story once it is accepted for publication, so this shouldn't be a major sticking point. But that's not why I posted earlier. Cliches like this can be used and used effectively, but they should be avoided in most cases for a variety of reasons. If this cliche is coming from a narrator who wants to indicate that a character is exremely frustrated, to the point of doing something irrational, why not just have the character do something irrational to show that frustration? That action can be used in several ways beyond showing the immediate mental state of the person. It can give the reader information on how extreme stress impacts that character and how the character reacts to it. It may be used to help set the tone of the entire scene. It could be used as a set-up for subsequent action. The description is not going to be anywhere near as effective in captivating the reader if the narrator just tells the reader that the character is at his/her wit's end.

The other side of the coin--sometimes things like this are not very imporant to the overall scene, so they can be "skimmed over" with telling and with a cliche.

I've never had to use wits' end, but it's a very good question, one I never pondered before.

best answer!

NeuroFizz said:

Why not just say, "I'm so cliched"?

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This is the best answer!

Or just do a Kath'n'Kim and let the character misquote constantly, such as:

"I don't want to be rich, I want to be effluent!"
"What are you doing here at the crack of sparrows?"
"I have them eating putty out of my hand!"
"Is Cinderella stupid Kim? She got married in a pumpkin style coach and she lived happily ever after, read your history books Kim"
"You look tired Sharon, you look like your burning the candle at both ends of the spectrum"
"What do you think I am? Chopped liver?"

etc. etc.