# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/41 "2008-10-16T17:14:52Z")
> [@RoniaBorkason](#): > > 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! That’s especially strange, as no local I know calls it anything but “Sierra.” Unless he is, in fact, a corporate sponsor. 🙂 As an aside: how does everybody feel about “shrugged”? Almost every book I read overuses shrugged to the point of distraction. I can’t remember the last time I’ve shrugged. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/42 "2008-10-16T21:51:59Z")
Perhaps he shouldn’t could but he has written a few prose novels. I offer you comic book writer Chris Claremont. Claremont is best known for writing the X-Men in the period where it went from a bi-monthly all but canceled reprint book to outselling every other comic book published by a factor of five. As time went by it became more and more clear that he had certain verbal tics that came up repeatedly. Not just single words but whole phrases and speeches. A list of a few of them can be found [here](http://stason.org/TULARC/art/comics-xbooks/68-What-s-a-Claremontism.html). My personal favorite was that Claremont couldn’t go more than three issues without someone saying they’ll “own you, body and soul”. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/43 "2008-10-16T23:42:39Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > Oh, I don’t know about all that. I’ve read all of their books - not just the Pendergast ones - and don’t really recall thinking that at all. I demand cites! 😉 > > Joe Sorry, Joe, my memory is my cite. 🙂 FWIW, I’ve read 'em all too. I noticed it while listening to the _Cabinet of Curiosities_ audiobook and I’d bet the farm they recycle those expressions at least twice in each subsequent book. If you like we could turn it into a drinking game… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/44 "2008-10-17T00:09:49Z")
I came in to mention Tom Wolfe, but Shimmery beat me to it. Every time I read the phrase “solar plexus”, I felt like I’d been kicked there. IIRC, it was mostly in _I am Charlotte Simmons_ and _The Right Stuff_, maybe _A Man in Full_ ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/45 "2008-10-17T01:32:58Z")
JK Rowling and every freaking adverb in existence. In her defence, she finally toned down on the adverbs in the last book, after Stephen King teased her that she’s never met an adverb she didn’t like(which may or may not be related to her cutting out the adverbs). ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/46 "2008-10-17T01:34:45Z")
Wasn’t Dr. Seuss the worst for this? Cat, hat, one, two, green, eggs, ham… ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/47 "2008-10-17T02:38:15Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > JK Rowling and every freaking adverb in existence. In her defence, she finally toned down on the adverbs in the last book, after Stephen King teased her that she’s never met an adverb she didn’t like(which may or may not be related to her cutting out the adverbs). Was her face a rictus of horror when he told her this? Seems like an awful lot of people get their rictus-face on in Stephen King books. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/48 "2008-10-17T04:58:43Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > But I agree, there’s no reason to shun “said” on principle, and use verbs like “murmur,” etc. That’s just so obviously desperate. Actually, you can just use quotation marks, and in context, the reader knows who’s speaking… I dislike that over more than a couple of lines, because I always lose track of who’s speaking and have to count back through the lines of dialogue to figure out who said what. Unless the writer is Elmore Leonard, I’ve always figured it’s a lazy way out of writing proper prose. That said, using pointlessly esoteric verbs like “tintinnabulated” needs to be stopped, especially aong fantasy wriers. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/49 "2008-10-17T07:06:25Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > Perhaps he shouldn’t could but he has written a few prose novels. I offer you comic book writer Chris Claremont. > > Claremont is best known for writing the X-Men in the period where it went from a bi-monthly all but canceled reprint book to outselling every other comic book published by a factor of five. As time went by it became more and more clear that he had certain verbal tics that came up repeatedly. > > Not just single words but whole phrases and speeches. A list of a few of them can be found [here](http://stason.org/TULARC/art/comics-xbooks/68-What-s-a-Claremontism.html). My personal favorite was that Claremont couldn’t go more than three issues without someone saying they’ll “own you, body and soul”. Transformers has its own version - the [Furmanism](http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Furmanism). ---
**Author:** ![etrnlflame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f19dbf/32.png) [@etrnlflame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etrnlflame)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/50 "2012-10-03T01:45:16Z")
J.K. Rowling abuses “ominous” in book 5… she goes from using it 0 times in book 1, to using it 18 times in book 5, and most of the times are completely unnecessary. Also Tolkien uses the word “queer” 43 times in LOTR book 1, lol. It makes me laugh for some reason rather than be annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/51 "2012-10-03T02:09:22Z")
She’s a critic not a novelist, but Michiko Kakutani gets criticized for overuse of the word “limn,” which most of us are otherwise unlikely to encounter in our lifetime. She recently did it again in the review for J.K. Rowling’s new book. Kind of grating. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/52 "2012-10-03T02:13:05Z")
Aaron Sorkin. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/53 "2012-10-03T02:20:31Z")
Simon Green: “In the Nightside.” “Anything for the Family.” “it was the easiest thing in the world” ---
**Author:** ![LouLou7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LouLou7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouLou7)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/54 "2012-10-03T02:36:12Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > “preternatural” Anne Rice. It’s ridiculous! This. I’d never noticed the word “preternatural” until I read her vampire series. She uses it in every other paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/55 "2012-10-03T02:43:49Z")
Not exactly on point, But I got annoyed with Kurt Vonnegut’s endlessly repetitive use of short phrases: “so it goes” “breakfast of champions” “hi ho” I know there was a purpose to it, but it got tiring. ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy8467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Cowboy8467](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy8467)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/56 "2012-10-03T17:32:15Z")
In the alternate history series by Harry Turtledove, the use of the word “butternut.” If I never had to read that work again I would be happy. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/57 "2012-10-03T18:04:10Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Shit, not only do their stomachs twist, their sardonic stomachs twist sardonically. Michael Moorcock likes the word “sardonic”, too. Oddball words that I’ve noticed in the works of Anthony Trollope: buckram, jointure, eat (instead of “ate”, as in “he eat his dinner”) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/58 "2012-10-03T18:28:54Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Also, I noticed in Mercedes Lackey’s books that she is fond of the expression, “The thought is parent to the deed.” It’s a weird expression to overuse, and I always get this mental image of the word “thought” shaped to look like a pregnant woman, giving birth to a tiny “deed.” I wonder if that’s where I got it. In my internal narration that happens sometimes, when I think of something and start doing it immediately, a phrase half forms in my brain but I’ve never nailed it down completely. Something to the effect of “No sooner marry thought to action…” but I don’t know how it would end or if it needs an end. I always figured it came from Dante. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/59 "2012-10-04T03:00:54Z")
I only have one contribution, but it is more than valid. Pat Conroy, in his book **“The Prince of Tides”** , used the word ‘feckless’ so frequently I began praying for the introduction of a character who was, indeed, fecked. mmm ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/60 "2012-10-04T03:23:52Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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. “Foeman”. But to be fair, pretty much everyone on Barsoom wants to kill John Carter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=4)