# Authors' Pet Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017 "2001-09-27T00:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/21 "2001-09-28T04:14:29Z")
I’m going to have to go with Doug Hofstadter and “droll”. Every time he uses it, it annoys me. I can’t even put my finger on why, exactly, but he uses it **way** too much. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/22 "2001-09-29T05:27:46Z")
Tom Clancy: MP5K and SSN. \ ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/23 "2001-09-29T06:07:58Z")
Laurel K. Hamilton and things spilling. Hair spills, light spills, clothing spills… In the first few Vampire Hunter books, everything spills but drinks. Also, Anne McCafferey uses cacaphony a lot. In one book, it turns up about halfway through, and then it’s just like every 10 pages. Freaking annoying. Cicero used way too many qu- words, but that’s just my opinion. 🙂 Tenebras ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/24 "2001-09-29T06:25:57Z")
Poe was fond of melancholy. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/25 "2001-09-29T14:23:23Z")
Because of the times when Hemingway wrote, he used the euphemism “fug” for sexual intercourse. It still startled many people to see even a semblance of the four-letter word in print, especially one that was a best seller. That was one of the reasons some of his earlier books were banned in many areas. It was one of the things that gave him the “bad boy image” that he enjoyed. One time at a get together thrown by his publisher (Scribners) another author, Margaret Mead, was in attendance. The relatively young Hemingway had long admired the way the elerly anthropologist had lived among the natives of Samoa and asked to be introduced to her. When the introductions were finished, the non-fiction grand dame repeated Hemingway’s name a couple of times as if trying to place it and finally said, “Oh yes, now I remember, you’re the young man who doesn’t know how to spell ‘fuck’.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Maxwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jack\_Maxwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Maxwell)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/26 "2001-09-29T15:23:06Z")
King seems to have a fondness for the words Chromium or Chromic (never crome). Can’t ya just say shiny, fer christs sake? ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/27 "2001-09-29T16:50:40Z")
In _High Fidelity_, Nick Hornby included the line “How did a guy like me become the number one lover man in his particular postal district?” It’s in the movie as well. In his next book, Hornby proceeded to drive the joke into the ground. At least three or four times, the main character makes reference to “our particular postal district.” Someone who had never read his other books would end up wondering why Londoners had this bizarre postal district obsession. ---
**Author:** ![ndorward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@ndorward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ndorward)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/28 "2001-09-29T18:03:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Because of the times when Hemingway wrote, he used the euphemism “fug” for sexual intercourse. It still startled many people to see even a semblance of the four-letter word in print, especially one that was a best seller. Er…my memory may be fuzzy, but isn’t it Norman Mailer you have in mind not Hemingway? ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/29 "2001-09-29T18:10:24Z")
In Bret Easton Ellis’ _American Psycho_ he kept using the phrase “nameless dread.” That phrase sounded familiar to me, though - I think possibly some other author has used it repeatedly. Maybe Jay McInerney. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2001, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/30 "2001-09-29T18:34:27Z")
In Ruth Rendell’s books, every article of clothing she describes is “fawn.” I don’t know why, but it drives me batty, especially when I have myderty marathons and I see the darn word over and over and over… ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/31 "2001-09-30T01:04:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ndorward \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Because of the times when Hemingway wrote, he used the euphemism “fug” for sexual intercourse. It still startled many people to see even a semblance of the four-letter word in print, especially one that was a best seller. > > Er…my memory may be fuzzy, but isn’t it Norman Mailer you have in mind not Hemingway? \*\* I am told the memory starts to go at a certain age. Apparently I hit that age this morning. You are 100 percent correct **ndorward**. Thanks - ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/32 "2001-09-30T01:15:57Z")
James A. Michener – **Acidulous** appears several times too many in _Hawaii_, less often in his other novels. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/33 "2001-09-30T03:18:16Z")
HP Lovecraft: Don’t forget **non-euclidean**. I think we’re three words short of being able to reconstruct one of his stories. ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/34 "2001-09-30T08:01:17Z")
Simon R. Green loves “(soandsuch soandsuch) didn’t/doesn’t/don’t give a damn.” you might see it three times a page. I guess he’s really stingy with his “damn”… ---
**Author:** ![Beardedcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Beardedcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beardedcrow)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2001, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/35 "2001-09-30T09:21:36Z")
William Burroughs must have loved the word “aftosa”. Every time one of his characters starts spinning a yarn about outrageous sexual exploits, “aftosa” is mentioned. It is a cow disease, I believe, and not sexually transmitted. ---
**Author:** ![niwroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@niwroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/niwroc)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/36 "2001-10-01T02:22:04Z")
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle frequently used the verb “ejaculate” (ejaculated, ejaculation) to mean “exclaim” in his many Sherlock Holmes stories. My mind still maintains its junior high school perception, so… ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/37 "2001-10-01T18:35:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mishell \* > \*\*Ann Rice: “preternatural” \*\* That was my first thought when I saw this thread. She used that word so gratuitously that it soured me on her books (not that they weren’t already beginning to suck eggs). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/38 "2001-10-01T18:38:12Z")
Hunter S. Thompson and “f\*ck.” ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/39 "2001-10-01T18:57:39Z")
Stephen King is also fond of the construction “friends and neighbors”, as in “Now, believe me when I tell you this, friends and neighbors…” And he likes to use brand names of products. It’s never just a vacuum cleaner, it’s an Electrolux. (Or whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![half\_a\_person](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@half\_a\_person](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/half_a_person)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017/40 "2001-10-01T19:38:38Z")
All I know is that if the chairs in the Harry Potter movie are not noticably “squashy” then it won’t be following the spirit of all four books. – michael [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-pet-words/84017.md?page=3)