# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/61 "2012-10-04T03:44:28Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > 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 It’s a blow to the ego when someone describes you as “ineffable.” ---
**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 4, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/62 "2012-10-04T17:48:17Z")
Huh - not only do I not remember creating this thread at all, but I don’t remember the Quirke books at all either. 🙂 Another for the OP: I would love to get one of Lee Child’s books elecgtronically and see the search results for “Reacher said nothing.” ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/63 "2012-10-04T18:07:50Z")
> [@Cowboy8467](#): > > 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. My thoughts exactly. If that word had been removed from Turtledove’s book “Guns of the South” this 500 page novel would have been a pamphlet. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/64 "2012-10-04T18:37:44Z")
> [@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! This reminds me of the use of brand names in **The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** (and possibly the sequels, but I hated the first one, so I stopped reading), especially with the computers. Was Stieg Larsson getting kickbacks from Apple or something? MacBooks are described in loving, gushing detail. I’ve heard wonderful parents talk about their wonderful children in less glowing terms. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/65 "2012-10-04T18:43:50Z")
Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favorite writers, and I’m on a serious jag right now (half-way through _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72_). Everything in Hunter’s world is “atavistic.” He describes something that way many, many time in pretty much any piece he’s ever written. It’s almost enough to make me look up the word to see what the hell it means. ---
**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 4, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/66 "2012-10-04T18:44:37Z")
I forgot another Trollope favourite: pressing someone’s hand. If I had a dime for every time someone’s hand got pressed, I’d be a millionaire. ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/67 "2012-10-04T18:51:17Z")
When I was a kid reading Naked Lunch I remember Burroughs wouldn’t shut up for a while about iridescence. ---
**Author:** ![CrimeThink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@CrimeThink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrimeThink)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/68 "2012-10-04T19:03:26Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > “preternatural” Anne Rice. It’s ridiculous! That’s funny. I was thinking of the same word but different author, Steven Erikson. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/69 "2012-10-04T19:09:33Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Another for the OP: I would love to get one of Lee Child’s books elecgtronically and see the search results for “Reacher said nothing.” I think it was a Lee Child book that drove me crazy because the car kept “nosing into traffic” or “nosing onto the freeway” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/70 "2012-10-04T20:26:46Z")
> [@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. Can’t forget ‘celerity.’ ---
**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:** [October 4, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/71 "2012-10-04T22:14:43Z")
H. Beam Piper, in _Little Fuzzy_, was seriously hung up on the world “Niffleheim.” Everything was “What in Niffleheim are you doing?” or “That would stink on Niffleheim!” or something similar. It was bad enough that to this day I refer to an author overusing a particular word as “Niffleheim Syndrome.” 😃 ---
**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 5, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/72 "2012-10-05T00:03:41Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > H. Beam Piper, in _Little Fuzzy_, was seriously hung up on the world “Niffleheim.” Everything was “What in Niffleheim are you doing?” or “That would stink on Niffleheim!” or something similar. It was bad enough that to this day I refer to an author overusing a particular word as “Niffleheim Syndrome.” 😃 Psst - posts 26 & 36. 😃 ---
**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:** [October 5, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/73 "2012-10-05T01:48:22Z")
Oh, my. Zombie ate my brains! (I used to be winterhawk, so there’s that–but I searched on my newer username and it didn’t come up, so I figured it was safe!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/74 "2012-10-05T01:55:17Z")
Timothy Zahn In his \*Thrawn Trilogy \*if something goes wrong, the situation “goes straight to hell” every time. When it does it all happens in a “heartbeat”. He wrote another series (Conquerors Saga) in which the alien’s hearts are called “hunns”. Of course everything happens in a “hunnbeat” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/75 "2012-10-06T02:05:04Z")
> [@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. I never noticed the “pinched” thing. I love Martin’s work, but the phrase “much and more,” appears several times per chapter. In fact, if you type “much and more,” into google the first thing that pops up is an ASOIF related link. Also, at least three different characters have “hands the size of hams.” But with 5000+ words in his story, I’m willing to forgive him for repeating himself once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/76 "2012-10-06T02:35:17Z")
A mess of a book, but in “The Long Goodbye” it really struck me that Raymond Chandler could manage to use the phrase “Portrait of Madison”… FOURTEEN times. Generally a clunky “that means a 5000 dollar bill” dialogue would follow, as well. Portrait of Madison. I remember coming to the bottom of a page. Marlowe had just met someone or something, but out loud, with myself as my only witness, I predicted the word would come soon. Flipped the page, and there it was: the portrait of Madison, crisp and green. My Kindle returns 5 full pages of search results for it. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/77 "2012-10-06T23:44:11Z")
Even though it’s been over 20 years since I read Louise Cooper’s Time Master series, I cannot hear the word “conundrum” without wincing. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/78 "2012-10-07T00:10:05Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > Everyone’s stomach twists in Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels. And everyone says “Point” when they want to, you know, acknowledge a point has been made. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/79 "2012-10-07T00:34:22Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > “preternatural” Anne Rice. It’s ridiculous! Dean Koontz likes that a lot also. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944/80 "2012-10-07T00:52:55Z")
Every suit of armor in George R. R. Martin’s universe is “lobstered.” In Stephen King’s universe, sunlight never reflects or glints off a surface. It “heliographs.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/specific-writers-who-overuse-certain-words/467944.md?page=5)