66 Comments

Does it matter how one pronounces the word?

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Contemplative v. Contemplative.

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3 of my favorites are brilliant, kerfuffle, and luscious

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Kalishnikov, corpuscle, and maligned

Overused: anything related to sounds a character makes when speaking: huffed, gasped, breathed out, sighed, etc..

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Yes. Again, louder.

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All I'm saying is I firmly agree- dialogue ought to be all the reader needs to hear 'related to the sounds a character makes when speaking'.

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Ok fine, I'll say it.

'fuck'

Overused? Or fucking perfect, a modifier for the ages, and otherwise versatile AF :)

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malfeasin’ (as in ‘that malfeasin’ shitbird right there.)

shitbird

pecan (is it spelled pecahn?) pecan, and it do

battle royale

bouquet (in the voice of Sam Elliott)

cantata

This is fun :)

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my favorite words are "unguent," "swain" and "palpable".

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I was told in a MFA workshop session that I use the word 'that' a lot, and now I can never unsee it. It actually was a good piece of feedback, but I was blind to the overusage.

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Another classic, but easy enough to search for and fix if necessary. And sometimes a well-placed THAT can be effective!

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It actually turns into a fun editing challenge, as it then gives me a reason to rearrange my sentences and formats. (Shout out to last month's workshop)

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That's right.

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Juxtaposition. Melee. Melancholy.

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My definition of 'melancholy' may differ from some folks. To me the words all the feels, all at once. Interested to know how you define melancholy.

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Longing for something you can’t have anymore.

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Yes. Very much so. Thank you.

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Flummoxed, sesquipedalian, zounds - all fun to say, and fun to think

So (and sadly, sometimes used when it's not so), compelling (same guilt as "so"), and striking (sometimes used for when things are thus). Words, so chewy.

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So.

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And then...and thus.

One character once accused the other of 'chewing their words'. So. Agreed.

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This is so, so, so, well, you know. ("You know" is another one of my broken-legged ways of signaling for a reader to agree with me when they have no interest in the signal.) Chewing yet.

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rootle (which I'm not even sure is a word but I love it and also overuse it)

mooch - ditto love/overuse

frisson

I reluctantly stopped using (overusing?) coruscating and scintillating a while back

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'rootle', yes please. And if you hear me overusing a word, knock me down :)

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Wild, Exposition, and Consequence

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toad, thermite and turpitude

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Yesss to turpitude.

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:)

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Inturpetuity. Did we just do that?

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favorites: exquisite, vermilion, plenitude

overused: inlets, singing, sunlight, rivers

I am also a comma over-user :)

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Commas! I have a feast or famine approach to them, either it's every other word or none at all.

Also can you ever have too many river inlets filled with singing sunlight? Even better if they are bathed in golden sunset dapples (some of my overused poetic go-tos)

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ain't, which now has an alterative spelling.

and - supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

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Favorites: germane, verisimilitude (so fun to spell out loud!), susurration. My characters and I just love the word just. *sigh*

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I know a Germane, and girl, let me tell you...

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I can't say verisimilitude without tripping up

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Same.

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Many years ago my poetry teacher told me I used to many gerunds.

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Me too. I've since been reeducated by small, pajama-clad children. Bastards.

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That is such a classic literature teacher complaint.

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