Meaning: intensify a problem. Use examples.
Rewrite 1: extinguish the fire with gasoline
Rewrite 2: cool the burn with rubbing alcohol
Rewrite 3: melt road ice with a bucket of water
Rewrite 4: add name-calling to the argument

Comment: This one was harder to rewrite or recast than I thought it would be. Maybe it’s because you have to think of things you would never do, like throwing gasoline on a fire. What you end up with are things that sound unreasonable or counterintuitive.

More reading about clichés
What I found when I googled “clichés”:
• Quotes for Gardeners: Clichés: “Weather, Climate, Clichés…” and more.

Check out the new alphabetical list of all my cliché rewrites available in the archive list at the right. To search the page using Internet Explorer, just go to “Edit” in the top menu bar, select “Find”, then enter the cliché or a word from it.