# Authors and the unusual words they like to overuse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731 "2014-02-07T03:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/1 "2014-02-07T03:31:47Z")
I’ve recently been reading(well, speed skimming) the Malazan book of the fallen series, and it is absolutely ridiculous how often Steven Erikson uses the word ‘gelid’. It keeps springing up multiple times in each book, and even allowing for the fact that these are 1000 page books, it seems more than a tad overdone. I remember reading a book by Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, (I feel compelled to mention that this was an unusual occurrence), and her characters kept having a _frisson_ of excitement pass though them at the drop of a hat. Anything similar ever jumped out at you? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/2 "2014-02-07T03:54:48Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > Anything similar ever jumped out at you? Ooh, great thread, and maybe it can help me with a long-delayed “ID this book series” question I have! Some science-fiction or fantasy series that I only vaguely remember, because I think it was thirty years ago or so that I read it, used the word “roiling” a noticeable amount. It may have been only once or twice per book, but I came to the conclusion that a word like “roiling” should be used at most once in a writer’s entire career. (Actually, that word seems to be more popular in such genres nowadays, so probably nobody else will have noticed it in the author I’m thinking of and I’m doomed never to find out what this long-forgotten book series was. Woe is me.) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/3 "2014-02-07T04:45:11Z")
While gorging on a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories, I noticed that he used “preternatural” quite often. That’s excusable in short stories though, since I assume they were written months/years apart. There’s always Lovecraft and “eldritch”. Don’t see “eldritch” used much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/4 "2014-02-07T04:52:25Z")
Ann Rice - preternatural D.H. Lawrence - inchoate ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/5 "2014-02-07T05:09:23Z")
Probably due to the world of self-publishing being light on proof-readers, I’ve been reading an entertaining sci-fi series where the author misuses “distain” in every single book, multiple times. He clearly means disdain from the context, but since distain is an actual word spellcheck doesn’t catch it, nor does he. What’s odd is that he uses the term so often - I can’t think of a book where it comes up nearly as much, so he’s messing up a word he actually seems to like. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/6 "2014-02-07T05:25:54Z")
H. Beam Piper _loved_ the word “Niffleheim” in his _Little Fuzzy_ series (it was a planet, but also used as a mild curse word and in various expressions). I noticed this years ago and dubbed the phenomenon described in this thread “Niffleheim Syndrome.” Can’t think of any others off the top of my head, though. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/7 "2014-02-07T11:46:25Z")
After getting a Kindle about two years ago, I got me the complete works of H. P. Lovecraft and read them in one go (over the course of some weeks, that is). Man, did he love the word “blasphemous”. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/8 "2014-02-07T11:54:11Z")
[EE “Doc” Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EE_%22Doc%22_Smith) was pretty well known for his enthusiastic use of “coruscating”. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/9 "2014-02-07T11:58:17Z")
Rick Atkinson loves him some crepuscular. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/10 "2014-02-07T12:20:52Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > There’s always Lovecraft and “eldritch”. Don’t see “eldritch” used much anymore. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > After getting a Kindle about two years ago, I got me the complete works of H. P. Lovecraft and read them in one go (over the course of some weeks, that is). Man, did he love the word “blasphemous”. Neil Gaiman weighs in, in his short story “[Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar](http://www.bestlibrary.net/book/Smoke_and_Mirrors/index_21.html)”: > [@](#): > > The little man nodded. “Yer. H. P. Lovecraft. I don’t know what the fuss is about. He couldn’t bloody write.” He slurped his stout, then licked the foam from his lips with a long and flexible tongue. “I mean, for starters, you look at them words he used. Eldritch. You know what eldritch means?” > > Ben shook his head. He seemed to be discussing literature with two strangers in an English pub while drinking beer. He wondered for a moment if he had become someone else, while he wasn’t looking. The beer tasted less bad, the farther down the glass he went, and was beginning to erase the lingering aftertaste of the cherryade. > > “Eldritch. Means weird. Peculiar. Bloody odd. That’s what it means. I looked it up. In a dictionary. And gibbous?” > > Ben shook his head again. > > “Gibbous means the moon was nearly full. And what about that one he was always calling us, eh? Thing. Wossname. Starts with a b. Tip of me tongue . . .” > > “Bastards?” suggested Wilf. > > “Nah. Thing. You know. Batrachian. That’s it. Means looked like frogs.” > > “Hang on,” said Wilf. “I thought they was, like, a kind of camel.” > > Seth shook his head vigorously. “S’definitely frogs. Not camels. Frogs.” > > […] > > “Anyway. H. P. Lovecraft. He’d write one of his bloody sentences. Ahem. ‘The gibbous moon hung low over the eldritch and batrachian inhabitants of squamous Dulwich.’ What does he mean, eh? What does he mean? I’ll tell you what he bloody means. What he bloody means is that the moon was nearly full, and everybody what lived in Dulwich was bloody peculiar frogs. That’s what he means.” > > “What about the other thing you said?” asked WIlf. > > “What?” > > “Squamous. Wossat mean, then?” > > Seth shrugged. “Haven’t a clue,” he admitted. “But he used it an awful lot.” It’s a funny story, and much funnier if you’ve both 1) read Lovecraft and 2) heard or seen any of the “Pete and Dud” skits. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/11 "2014-02-07T12:28:25Z")
**Gyrate,** I have long suspected that Lovecraft didn’t know what a “gibbous” moon was and seemed to think the word had something to do with gibbering. Another favored word of his would be “cyclopean.” There is a fantasy author Lin Carter who wrote some Edgar Rice-Burroughs-like Mars stories. His favorite adjective is “naked”–he uses it to describe _everything_: “The naked sun blazed down on the naked sand as he glared at his foes with naked hatred while sweat dripped from his naked thews.” (“Thews” was also a favored word, instead of the more common terms “muscles”.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/12 "2014-02-07T13:06:56Z")
Borges liked “vertiginous.” But he didn’t _overuse_ it. He didn’t overuse anything. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/13 "2014-02-07T13:07:58Z")
Do made-up words count? Because Neal Stephenson definitely over-used “phant’sy” in The Baroque Cycle. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/14 "2014-02-07T14:11:15Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Borges liked “vertiginous.” But he didn’t _overuse_ it. He didn’t overuse anything. Oooh. Vertiginous is a word I thought some author was overusing. Damnit but I can’t remember who it was. Now this is going to bug me. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/15 "2014-02-07T14:12:21Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Neil Gaiman weighs in, in his short story “[Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar](http://www.bestlibrary.net/book/Smoke_and_Mirrors/index_21.html)”:It’s a funny story, and much funnier if you’ve both 1) read Lovecraft and 2) heard or seen any of the “Pete and Dud” skits. Even just the excerpt is funny. British accents lend themselves really well to humour. In my head at least. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/16 "2014-02-07T14:26:42Z")
Do phrases count? I had never read about so many characters who “broke their fast” every morning until I read GRR Martin. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/17 "2014-02-07T14:32:15Z")
Should we go ahead and get George R. R. Martin out of the way? Nuncle Jape Mummer ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Eclipse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@Lunar\_Eclipse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Eclipse)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/18 "2014-02-07T14:42:06Z")
Nelson DeMille - apropos (especially “apropos of nothing”) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/19 "2014-02-07T14:56:28Z")
**Gyrate** ’s Gaiman quote covers much of Lovecraft, who springs to mind immediately, although you could add other favorite Lovecraft-isms to the ones he gave (nauseous, non-Euclidean). George Bernard Shaw loved to use the spelling “shew” for “show”, for some reason. In my head, his characters always sound like Ed Sullivan in consequence. L. Sprague de Camp liked to use the word “Futter” in place of “Fuck”. It looks as it it’s a bastardization of French _foutre_, which Shakespeare famously used in one of his _Henry_ plays (IV 1? IV 2? V? They all run together) De Camp undoubtedly originally used it because he could get away with it in his puritanical pulp magazines, but he kept on using it even after standards had relaxed. I think he liked to exotic sound of it. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731/20 "2014-02-07T14:58:10Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > Even just the excerpt is funny. British accents lend themselves really well to humour. In my head at least. And now that I’ve gone and read all of it, I’m wondering if comedy-horror is a thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731.md?page=2)