Wednesday 12 May 2010

Words you'd like to have banned

I know I've mentioned this topic before but it's one I feel a need to return to.

Yes, I feel the urge to moan coming on.

There are certain words - and I'm not talking about swear words here - that I find really start to annoy when I read.

My major bugbear has to be - 'literally' - please can't we ban this word from fiction already. It really gets on my wick. Mainly because most of the time it's unnecessary, it's the word equivalent of an exclamation mark.

Now it's also closely followed by 'actually' in the annoyance rankings, a word which seems to be cropping up more and more often. This is almost amusing in that it's one of those words that people often overuse in television interviews (along with 'obviously').

Speaking of exclamation marks...lol...I think it was Dean Koontz who said that authors should treat that punctuation mark as if they had a finite amount to use in their writing career. Once they'd used them up, that was it, they couldn't use them any more. I tend to associate them with SHOUTING, especially if they're being overused. No one talks in exclamations all the time. If you ever think you're using too many in your writing, or an author may have got carried away with them, simply convert the exclaimed dialogue into upper case. IT GIVES A GREAT VISUAL CLUE!

Unusual words often stand out. I love the word 'susarration' it's so descriptive. But, chances are if you read a lot of novels that feature angels, it's going to crop up a lot.

So are there any words that annoy you? I have a copy of Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready to give away to one person who comments on this thread. Winner to be chosen by random number (randomnumber.org) on Saturday.

14 comments:

Chris said...

Not entering (and not thinking of a specific word), but I suggest caution when using unusual words. I have an example, from a book that shall remain nameless (not m/m). In this book, the author used the word "adamantine" to describe our hero's abs and helpfully defined it as "diamond-like" in a nearby sentence. Cool.

And then... the author did the same thing again about 50 pages later - same word, same helpful definition. D'oh!

Sullivan McPig said...

@Chris: That does sounds annoying.

I for myself can get annoyed by the overly creative synonyms writers come up with when describing sex. Sometimes all the foodie synonyms make me wonder if the characters are really having sex at all or if they're eating a sandwich.

Chris said...

@Sullivan: LMAO about the sandwich ref!

You've reminded me about a popular (again, non-m/m) author whose books I can't read because she overuses the term "her feminine channel" - odd enough to use it once, but multiple times in a single sex scene? Suddenly all I can see is the phrase...

Carolyn Crane said...

Funny post. I'm not entering, since I read and loved wicked game, but I use those two words a lot! LOL.

I tend to give specific characters the word "literally" in speech. Because, what if you want to make a character seem like the type of person who would says literally too much?

I am a horrible actually offender.

I'd like to have the word "nosh" banned. How about that?

Sullivan McPig said...

"her feminine channel"? Ouch!

@Carolyn: Oh, I second your motion on 'nosh'!

Otter said...

I'd really like to ban "nauseous", it doesn't mean what you think it means people, your character isn't making other people want to throw up. The word is nauseated.

Nastassia said...

@Carolyn - What exactly is 'nosh'?

s7anna said...

nosh...to snack on something...

errm...I use that word a lot...*guilty look on my face* Don't hurt me Carolyn & Sullivan. please.

I'm going with "plowing" as my word to ban...need I say more?

Count me in for the giveaway please...

hugs,
Anna

Turtle said...

lol, love this one! I would have to say an annoying word for me would be "quivering". Just an annoying word that speaks of trashy romance books, the really lame books...i think my gram used to read, lol!

LesleyW said...

Chris - I think this is why susarration stands out for me. Adamantine is to 'diamond-like' as susarration is to 'whisper'.

Sullivan - You should read Tempest Rising. I think there's a sex scene where the hero accuses the heroine of preferring a bacon sandwich or something similar. That did make me smile.

LesleyW said...

Carolyn - I think if you're writing the kind of character who says 'literally' all the time, maybe you should be allowed to get away with it. But when an author writes something like - His head literally exploded with pain. I just want to scream NO IT DIDN'T! because if it did there'd be bits of brain matter all over the walls.

LesleyW said...

s7anna - would that be - plowing her feminine channel? ROTFL.

Turtle - a lot of our words seem to centre around sex scenes. So if the hero was plowing her quivering feminine channel that would really be a big NO-NO for all of us. :)

Chris said...

Stop. Please, you're killing me here!

*whimpering*

LesleyW said...

Okay no more. :)