“Arthur!” Mrs. Weasley said warningly. <-- A real quote from one of the books.
If Rowling wasn’t an awesome storyteller, that line alone would’ve made me throw the book across the room.
And you’re right. The girl was trying to emulate Rowling.
Kurt Vonnegut made great use of “said” in his novel Mother Night. The narrator has completely suppressed his emotions, and tells the book in a very flat style so that it’s up to the reader to see what’s going on under the surface. As a consequence, “said” is the only verb he ever uses when someone speaks. When one character shouts something at another, it’s still “said.”
Example: “You’re the devil, the worst person in the world!” he said. (That’s not a quote; there was a similar line in the book, but I don’t have it handy.)
Mother Night is probably my favorite of Vonnegut’s novels.
Was it Stephen King who said that Rowling’s never met an adverb she didn’t like?
To be fair, I noticed that she’d really pared down on the adverbs in Deathly Hallows. So I guess she can learn, even if it takes 6 books before she does.
I read a book that had this line:
There’s so much wrong with that. So much.
For a book review, I counted his synonyms for said for three randomly chosen pages (315-317). Two conversing characters call, advise, cry, proclaim, warn, declare, reply, tell, accuse, yell, shriek, jabber, squawk, squeal, snarl, blubber, rant, screech, squeak, whimper, and bawl.
I don’t claim to be a great writer, but I love writing dialogue. Rarely do I use a verb other than said or asked. Often I leave them out altogether.
“You look like ya saw a ghost.”
Henry blinked his eyes. Virgil Boggs was on the sidewalk next to him.
“I did, almost,” said Henry. “I just saw the truck.”
Now Virgil’s eyes grew wide. “You mean the truck?”
“Yeah. My old truck. Your old truck. The truck.”
“Heck, let’s go after her!” said Virgil. “Toss your bags in the Jeep.”
I also like use use “he said” to punctuate a line.
“That little ding on the driver’s door,” said Henry, “is from when one of my sister’s more crazy boyfriends shot it with a pellet gun.”
“Hole in the front fender,” said Virgil, “is where I shot 'er with a .45. ”
Once I get a conversation started it can go on for quite a while with no “saids” at all. Sometimes I have to throw one in to break the flow for a second.
This has pretty much been answered, but I think the problem with the above example isn’t in the example itself but with writers who go overboard. So you get:
“Who stole my cookies?” she huffed.
“They weren’t your cookies,” he snapped.
“Give them back!” she bossed.
“Bossy, bossy,” he joshed.
And so on. Doesn’t quite let you forget you’re reading a story.
I must say, though, that I do find it odd to read ‘“Are you going out” he said,’ especially in older books.
As opposed to, what, blinking his nose? 
Slight hijack, or perhaps just a gentle shove off the main road…
I dunno about this construct. It’s popular in kids’ books, and it appears to be used more widely in the U.K., but whenever I see it in U.S. writing, it seems backward or old fashioned. I mean, most modern writers would rarely use “said he,” would they? So when editing, I always reverse the tag when I come across this construct.
Probably doesn’t matter much, but since we’re discussing the whole tag thing… 
I sometimes read a series of books where the one character always “wails”. “Put that down,” she wailed. "I have no idea, " she wailed. Just once I wish the damn character would just “say” something.
“Henry blinked” was too quick. The rhythm of four words felt better to me. They made it a more deliberate, head-clearing blink.
With “said Henry” as opposed to “Henry said,” my use varies depending on the sound of the sentence.
I like a technique that Robert Parker occasionally uses to great effect in passages of witty banter.
“You are,” she said, “deluded.”
Moving the “said” part to just before the last word gives a lovely emphasis and tone.
Witty banter and humor in general can benefit from the careful placement of each word. When dialogue is set up as a series of straight lines and punchlines, every syllable counts.
She said, “You are deluded.”
“You,” she said, “are deluded.”
“You are,” she said, “deluded.”
“You are deluded,” she said.
I can see Parker picking number three.
Well, at least his eyes didn’t fall to the floor.
Yeah. English teachers often give rules that make for bad writing. Like avoiding sentence fragments (which can be powerful tools – though I believe the thinking here is that you want students to write complete sentences; otherwise everything would be one or two words).
I also realize that I do occasionally use verbs to describe how something is said (e.g., he whispered), but I stick with concrete verbs with fairly clear definitions. I don’t use adverbs or descriptive phrases; I’d much rather give the feeling by having the character do something that shows his mood instead of describing it:
“Upset?” she said, peeling the potatoes furiously. “What makes you think I’m upset?”
By using “furiously” with a mundane verb, you did exactly what you said you didn’t do.
What about
Or maybe.
"Upset? she said. Potato peels flew across the table. “What makes you think I’m upset?”
Not exactly. By modifying the verb “said,” it just tells us how she spoke the word. By modifying the verb “peel” he’s showing us her actions. (“Furiously” was probably an unclear choice, though, because it has two different meanings – in this context I think he meant it as in “hyperactively” rather than “angrily,” which is how it would be used if modifying “said.”) In any case, in RealityChuck’s version we can now see that she’s upset. Plus, I have the impression that she’s trying to keep her voice calm; it’s only her hands that are betraying her.
I agree though that “flaying” works much better, though! Awesome choice.
I usually write in screenplay format, so I don’t have to worry about any he-said’s, but when I adapted a script into a short story* I stuck to “said” and it worked very well.
*: I intended to “cheat” on a college writing assignment, but adapting the story and making it sound good was almost as time consuming as writing from scratch.
I see what you’re saying.