# What is your threshold tolerance for unusual or oft repeated words in books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 28, 2023, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327 "2023-04-28T22:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/41 "2023-04-30T18:09:57Z")
Well, I don’t want to debate it, and you seem to know already that it’s incorrect usage (right?), but the “within the range of all time” quality comes from the present perfect verb tense (have + past participle), not from “ever.” It might be better described as “at an indefinite point in time.” The same questions and answers can be formulated without using “ever.” “Have you put horseradish in…?” “I have (not) put it in…” When I taught English, I used to tell students that the use of “ever” in this sense is limited to questions and negatives. Thankfully, they didn’t challenge that explanation. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/42 "2023-04-30T18:58:19Z")
My cousin told me he could not get past the first page of _A Clockwork Orange_. A few years after that, I picked it up and started reading. I just about failed to notice “moloko”, but then the word “mesto” popped up in exactly the right place, and that sure got my attention. Turned out to be pretty easy for me (although “horrorshow” took a time or two before I cottoned onto what it was suppoaed to be rendering). By contrast, I picked up _Kidnapped_ three different times and was never able to get to the end of the first page. It was just too painful, the odd vernacular combined with the classical dense 19th century writing style. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/43 "2023-04-30T19:19:04Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’ve had the experience of surprising myself when doing a final edit of the whole of seeing a word or phrase pop up in several places. Wouldn’t a basic grammar checker tell you if you’re repeating a word too often? . > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I read a novel about 30 years ago and the thing I remember most about it is how often the author used a specific word. It drove me crazy. > > The book is “The Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy. > The word is “feckless”. > > mmm… The first time I encountered that word I thought “Why, that gentleman is exhibiting a complete lack of feck! … … What’s feck?” I never bothered to look it up. Is it a common word that I’ve only encountered once, or is it used regularly in some field I know nothing about? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/44 "2023-04-30T19:26:18Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > And Steven R. Donaldson! I got so sick of the words _chthonic_ and _preternatural_ that by the third book I was rooting for Lord Foul. > > I simply refused to pick up the Second Chronicles. Oh, and he loved the word _limned._ Any character entering a room was _limned_, so presumably they were always moving from a brighter room to a darker one. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/45 "2023-04-30T19:52:25Z")
> [@digs](#): > > What’s feck?” > > I never bothered to look it up. Is it a common word that I’ve only encountered once, or is it used regularly in some field I know nothing about? clearly you have never watched the delightful _Father Ted_ ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/46 "2023-04-30T20:24:18Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > I’m a fan of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series, but in the later books she’s guilty of unnecessarily repeating phrases. I had to grit my teeth to get to the end of _W is for Wasted_, where many times she described a particular character as “the good doctor” I’ve noticed that she uses “tucked” a lot. But I’ve wondered if a book is written in first person, like her books, it does make sense that a person may use certain words frequently. I guess it’s a character trait to use the word. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/47 "2023-04-30T21:17:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Wouldn’t a basic grammar checker tell you if you’re repeating a word too often? Wouldn’t know. What serious writer writes with a grammar checker on? > [@digs](#): > > I never bothered to look it up. Is it a common word that I’ve only encountered once, or is it used regularly in some field I know nothing about? [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckless), of all serious people, has this to say. > Someone feckless is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? In Scots—our source of _feckless_—_[feck](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feck)_ means “majority” or “effect.” The term is ultimately an alteration of the Middle English _[effect](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effect#ety)_. So something without feck is without effect, or ineffective. In the past, _[feckful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckful)_ (meaning “efficient, effective,” “sturdy,” or “powerful”) made an occasional appearance. But in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: _feckless_ is a commonly used English word, but _feckful_ has fallen out of use. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/48 "2023-04-30T21:29:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Wouldn’t know. What serious writer writes with a grammar checker on? A few decades ago, I had a word processor that included a grammar checker, but it was not running in the background. You can write a tome first and then run the grammar checker over it, which I suspect is what most people (who use them) would do. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/49 "2023-04-30T22:39:48Z")
I wonder what _The Eye of Argon_ would look like if you ran it through a grammar checker. Of course, Theis’s style (such as it is) suggests that he himself had an aversion to repeating commonplace words. In that story, no one ever _says_ anything. They _croak_, they _hiss_, they _opine_. One guy even _gurgled_, IIRC (to be fair, Grignr _had_ just stabbed him through the throat). ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/50 "2023-05-01T11:32:07Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > Wouldn’t a basic grammar checker tell you if you’re repeating a word too often? > > Wouldn’t know. What serious writer writes with a grammar checker on? > > > [@digs](#): > > > > I never bothered to look it up. Is it a common word that I’ve only encountered once, or is it used regularly in some field I know nothing about? > > [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckless), of all serious people, has this to say. > > > Someone feckless is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? In Scots—our source of _feckless_—_[feck](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feck)_ means “majority” or “effect.” The term is ultimately an alteration of the Middle English _[effect](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effect#ety)_. So something without feck is without effect, or ineffective. In the past, _[feckful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckful)_ (meaning “efficient, effective,” “sturdy,” or “powerful”) made an occasional appearance. But in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: _feckless_ is a commonly used English word, but _feckful_ has fallen out of use. Well feck me. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/51 "2023-05-01T15:40:57Z")
…With a cactus? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![ZamboniAce1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f19dbf/32.png) [@ZamboniAce1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZamboniAce1000)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/52 "2023-05-01T18:15:05Z")
The first Harry Turtledove novel I ever read was “Guns of the South.” Harry about drove me round the proverbial bend with his incessant description of the Confederate’s uniforms as “butternut.” ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/53 "2023-05-02T01:27:36Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > > [@gkster](#): > > > > I’m a fan of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series, but in the later books she’s guilty of unnecessarily repeating phrases. I had to grit my teeth to get to the end of _W is for Wasted_, where many times she described a particular character as “the good doctor” > > I’ve noticed that she uses “tucked” a lot. But I’ve wondered if a book is written in first person, like her books, it does make sense that a person may use certain words frequently. I guess it’s a character trait to use the word. Kinsey is a fun narrator, but “the good doctor” phrase is in the omniscient narrative which makes up at least 1/4 of the book. It’s one reason that people say that the end of the series has gone downhill–too much of it isn’t in Kinsey’s smart, distinctive voice. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/54 "2023-05-02T02:13:54Z")
Decades? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/55 "2023-05-02T02:23:19Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Didn’t we just do this? > > > [@](#): > > > > Marguerite Henry was rather fond of the unusual phrase “sharp ecstasy”. It shows up twice in Misty of Chincoteague and also in some of her other books, most of which are aimed at young readers. Other children in other books are joyful or feel happy or even on occasion may be ecstatic, but only in Marguerite Henry’s world are they likely to “feel a sharp ecstasy”. And in that 2022 thread it was pointed out that we had [done the same thing back in 2014.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-and-the-unusual-words-they-like-to-overuse/680731) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/56 "2023-05-02T06:27:16Z")
Well, I for one cannot wait for the 2025 thread. It’s a subject that never fails to be snarky but cathartic. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/57 "2023-05-02T12:36:14Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Decades? Really? Yes, really. I bought it in the early 90s. I think it is possible for me to boot one of my computers into an OS that can run it in emulation mode. Mostly I do not use them fancy monster WPs that have it built in/bundled, so decades is how long it has been since I particularly noticed their presence (the one time I did run it, I found it annoying and not all that worthwhile, as I have pretty good grammar myself). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/58 "2023-05-02T12:50:54Z")
I can understand fantasy authors using completely new words, especially for names. I can even understand fantasy authors using names that are exact copies of real world names, if they get uncreative. But I saw the Game of Thrones series way before I read any of the characters’ names or titles in text. I am now determined to never read the books at all. Far too many names and titles that sound exactly like real world words but cutesily spelled. It was only last week that I found out that there wasn’t a character named “Egret”. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/59 "2023-05-02T17:03:44Z")
Not a book, but one thing I noticed while someone else was watching _X-Files_ was that the two central characters address each other by (sur-)name with what seems to me to be unusual frequency. On the order of every third or fourth line of dialog, sometimes more, when there is no one else around or no doubt about who is being spoken to. In my personal experience, address appears scantly in conversation, and its abundance makes conversation seem wooden. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/60 "2023-05-02T18:14:18Z")
It never crossed my threshold but it was noticeable: the amazing and wonderful author Terry Pratchett had a great fondness for “susurration”. Great word. But his regular use of it took me out of the flow after seeing it show up so regularly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327.md?page=4)