# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/81 "2023-05-12T17:56:43Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > My only complaint: there’s one word that she uses ALL THE TIME. The book is in Czech, and her characters are constantly stated as **“vyhrkl(a)”** = **I / he / she blurted out**. The novel is chock full of this word, and it seems like her protagonist and other characters can’t speak any other way than by blurting out things. What’s Czech for “vouchsafed”? Or worse, “ejaculated”? I run across “ejaculated” instead of “said” in conversations in older novels (including some of the Nero Wolfe mysteries), and it’s a distracting form of intercourse. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/82 "2023-05-12T18:00:44Z")
An unfortunately punctuated passage from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Oblong Box”: > “They sank as a matter of course,” replied the captain, “and that like a shot. They will soon rise again, however- but not till the salt melts.” > **“The salt!” I ejaculated.** ---
**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 12, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/83 "2023-05-12T18:36:20Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > distracting form of intercourse. I see what you did there! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/84 "2023-05-12T22:33:09Z")
I noticed that HG Welles used “ejaculate” a lot in his novels. I once slogged my way through _ **Atlas Shrugged** _ and found Rand’s repeated use of “astonished” to be particularly annoying. For all the preliminary work she claimed to do before actually writing the novel, she apparently couldn’t come up with a synonym. (A thesaurus would have made a good Christmas gift, if she ever celebrated Christmas.) I never got very far into _ **The Fountainhead** _, so I don’t know if this was a pattern of hers. (I just saw the movie instead.) ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/85 "2023-05-12T22:43:29Z")
I reviewed a non-fiction manuscript for a university press and the author used the phrase, “the chickens came home to roost” five times. The published version cut most of them. It did remind me of Orwell on dead metaphors, and I wondered how many contemporary readers would have any idea what roosting chickens looked like. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/86 "2023-05-13T02:05:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I once slogged my way through _ **Atlas Shrugged** _ and found Rand’s repeated use of “astonished” to be particularly annoying. I found all of the words in _ **Atlas Shrugged** _ annoying. I hold no specific animus towards “astonished”. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/87 "2023-05-13T20:56:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > What’s Czech for “vouchsafed”? Or worse, “ejaculated”? Yes, these words are synomyms. “ejaculate” in that old sense translates to “vyhrknout” or “vykřiknout”. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/88 "2023-10-01T09:12:14Z")
I read through all Ellis Peters’ Cadfael stories during lockdown, and got annoyed by her over use of “erect”, not in a sexual sense but just describing a person’s posture. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/89 "2023-10-01T09:58:10Z")
In the historical period known as the Anarchy when Cadfael is set, any person described as having an erect posture would probably be upper class (or a monk), as opposed to a lower-class toiler in the fields, worn down by hard work. So this gives some indication of the person’s socio-economic status. But there are other ways of indicating this. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/90 "2023-10-01T14:47:21Z")
I think Stephen King uses “noisome” a bit too much. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327/91 "2023-10-01T21:52:01Z")
Where exactly in “the Northern US”? I’m from Minnesota, and I’ve never heard anyone say that there. New England, perhaps? > **[Definition of DASN'T](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dasn%27t)** > > dare not… See the full definition It’s a contraction of the archaic verb ending _-est_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-threshold-tolerance-for-unusual-or-oft-repeated-words-in-books/983327.md?page=4)