# Specific writers who overuse certain words **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944 "2008-10-14T20:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/21 "2008-10-15T08:09:36Z")
Names, not words, but Michael Crichton puts a token Levine in nearly every book. Errm…in enough books to irk me. Now if the Levines were a badass family like the Shaftoes or the Waterhouses, I could understand. But these guys were all irritating minor characters. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/22 "2008-10-15T14:28:09Z")
“preternatural” Anne Rice. It’s ridiculous! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/23 "2008-10-15T14:48:29Z")
It’s not egregious, but I’ve started to notice ‘consider’ in Larry Niven, especially used as an imperative before a character starts explaining a line of logic. (Usually to someone of a different species.) Once you’re aware of it, it’s a speech pattern that gets old quick. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/24 "2008-10-15T16:43:30Z")
While I’d hardly call it “overuse,” but Edgar Rice Burroughs had some favorite phrases that are not common nowadays: Vouchsafe: People did a lof of vouchsafing in his stories, much more than in stories by other authors. Must needs: (“must out of necessity”) People “must needs” stuff all the time. No mean: (“above average”) Lots of opponents were no mean swordsmen. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/25 "2008-10-15T16:54:17Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > H.P. Lovecraft, “cyclopean,” “non-Euclidean.” You forgot: “eldritch” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/26 "2008-10-15T17:06:33Z")
I mentioned this one in [this thread from a month ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10216513#post10216513), but in her book **Hellspark** , author Janet Kagan seriously overuses the word “serendipity”. In that thread, **winterhawk11** calls this fondness for overusing some oddball word [“Niffleheim syndrome”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10204577#post10204577). ---
**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:** [October 15, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/27 "2008-10-15T17:24:56Z")
> [@](#): > > H.P. Lovecraft, “cyclopean,” “non-Euclidean.” I’m surprised that someone called **thelurkinghorror** only came up with two. In addition to **Otakuloki** ’s “eldritch”, there’s \*\*Squamous Nauseous Batrachian Labyrinthine \*\* and a host of others. But especially Batrachian. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/28 "2008-10-15T17:30:34Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > Everyone’s stomach twists in Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels. Shit, not only do their stomachs twist, their sardonic stomachs twist sardonically. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/29 "2008-10-15T17:40:53Z")
Yeah, I forgot eldritch. I don’t remember those other ones much, it’s honestly been awhile since I’ve read him. I would also like to add **ichor** , which I recall came up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/30 "2008-10-15T18:05:05Z")
> [@](#): > > H.P. Lovecraft, “cyclopean,” “non-Euclidean.” > [@](#): > > I’m surprised that someone called thelurkinghorror only came up with two. In addition to Otakuloki’s “eldritch”, there’s > Squamous > > Nauseous > > Batrachian > > Labyrinthine > > and a host of others. But especially Batrachian. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Yeah, I forgot eldritch. I don’t remember those other ones much, it’s honestly been awhile since I’ve read him. > > I would also like to add **ichor** , which I recall came up a bit. And gibbous. The moon is always gibbous. Does anyone remember reading Gaiman’s short story, _Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar_? I think it was in Smoke and Mirrors. It was something of a send-up of Lovecraft and it played with some of the words he used. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/31 "2008-10-15T18:47:18Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Stephen R. Donaldson is the poster child for this thread. Vitriol, carious, febrile, etoliated, there are more but I forgot - somebody gave him a thesaurus for Christmas one year or something. Don’t forget “anile”, “argent”, and “verdant”. Without those, you don’t have a complete set. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/32 "2008-10-15T20:24:31Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > And gibbous. The moon is always gibbous. > > Does anyone remember reading Gaiman’s short story, _Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar_? I think it was in Smoke and Mirrors. It was something of a send-up of Lovecraft and it played with some of the words he used. Yeah. that was funny: it was done in a Pete and Dud style, with them complaining about being called “batrachian”. Neil Gaiman also picked out a great sentence from Stephen Donaldson: “They were featureless and telic, like lambent gangrene. They looked horribly like children.” Oh, and Angela Carter for ineffable, inchoate, porphyry and lapis lazuli: reading Angela Carter is like being beaten to death with a box of Turkish Delights. ---
**Author:** ![spoike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@spoike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoike)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/33 "2008-10-15T21:05:38Z")
I don’t know that it necessarily counts as overuse, but in every P.D. James novel I’ve ever read, there is some form of _susurration_, whether it be the wind susurrating through long grass, or the faint susurration of the sea in the distance. It amuses me to find the word in each novel of hers; it’s almost become a little bit of a (sad and pathetic) game for me. It is a great word, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/34 "2008-10-15T21:09:54Z")
Haven’t read Lovecraft, but I always thought of “inchoate” and “coruscating” as very Lovecraftian words, as well. Re: Rand, I think of her over-used word as “Brusque/ly”. As in, the inchoate, eldritch labryrinth coruscated brusquely. ETA: a quick Google tells me he did use both at least once: possibly the “inchoate” several times! ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/35 "2008-10-16T01:15:02Z")
> [@Lama\_Pacos](#): > > George R.R. Martin refers to every other face or facial feature as “pinched”. I have no idea how to picture this! So-and-so has a pinched nose. His wife has a pinched face. Her son has a pinched brow. And they’re all wearing boiled leather. Really? Must say I never noticed this, and the Song of Ice and Fire is one of my favorite fantasy series. Anyway, just imagine taking like clay (or play-doh, hehe) and making a nose, and then pinching it, that’s the general feel. It’s kinda squished together. as for the boiled leather thing.. what, you don’t wear boiled leather?! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/36 "2008-10-16T03:53:13Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > In that thread, **winterhawk11** calls this fondness for overusing some oddball word [“Niffleheim syndrome”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10204577#post10204577). I have no cite, but I remember hearing that Piper’s editors told him to remove shocking words like “hell” from his “kids book”. So he substituted “Niffleheim”, among other bowlderizations. I think the reprints had the real words - nothing you won’t hear in a Disney movie these days between fart jokes. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/37 "2008-10-16T05:03:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m surprised that someone called **thelurkinghorror** only came up with two. In addition to **Otakuloki** ’s “eldritch”, there’s > > \*\*Squamous > > Nauseous > > Batrachian > > Labyrinthine > > \*\* and a host of others. But especially Batrachian. [Chthonic](http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-cht1.htm')! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/38 "2008-10-16T07:00:48Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > “preternatural” Anne Rice. It’s ridiculous! I’m “astonished” that you could come up with such a “florid” example. Rice is a very good plot writer, but her prose is purple. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/39 "2008-10-16T16:57:39Z")
We seem to be going with a speculative fiction theme, but I have one that I just discovered this week. My grandmother lent me 4 books written by Todd Borg, the Owen McKenna ‘Tahoe’ mysteries. First of all, he incessantly uses the street names when Owen drives anywhere around the lake (probably because he is a local to Tahoe writer). Secondly, nobody just drinks beer or wine. They exclusively drink Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Or a Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir or Zinfandel from Such-and-such a vineyard. It sounds like he has corporate sponsors! Once per book I could understand, to establish that they drink poshish beer (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), but every time they drink (a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale) or offer a guest refreshment (Would you like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale?)? Four times per book? Gahhh! (Thirdly, Hi Opal.) ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/40 "2008-10-16T17:10:19Z")
This is more of a fanfic complaint than anything else, but what happened to using good old fashioned colors like red, blue, and yellow? No, everything has to be crimson, cerulean, or amber. All the time, too! It’s NOT poetic to say that something is “alazarin” if you use it every chance you have! :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=3)