I have been finishing up the last edits on my current manuscript. As part of the process I have been searching for those repeated words that haunt most of us. You know, the ones that seem to keep appearing. Some of mine are:
Just
Appeared
But
Didn't
Though
Sat
Looked
That
There must be many more. So, (that should be on the list as well) I was looking through a book my sister gave me enjoying the prospect of finding new words. It's called Oxford: A Century of New Words. What makes this book so interesting is that it's organized by decades, covering from the 1900's to the end of the century those words that came into use based on scientific and cultural changes.
I offer you a few:
1900's- Adrenaline, airliner, canned (as in laughter), panties, questionnaire, radio
1930's- electric blanket, deoxyribonucleic acid, curvaceous, jukebox, housey-housey (later renamed bingo)
1950's- coffee bar, body bag, hi-fi, jeans, information technology, silent majority, sputnik
1970's- Big Mac, couch potato, downsize, hacking, paternity leave, politically correct
1990's- blog, bling, fashionista, emoticon (that's the little smiley face you type in an email), spam
The list goes on. The book isn't going to help me rid my work of redundant words or phrases, but it is a grand walk through history, especially with the definitions and origins offered for each entry.
Do you have the same problem with the over use of certain words? Do you write historical novels and have to research what word should not be included in your work as it hadn't yet been "invented?" What resources do you use to broaden your language? Do you have a particular process to find all the words that appear too frequently?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this. Bring it on!
12 comments:
Cassy, I am a word nerd, so I got all excited by your book listing the "birthdates" of different words. LOL I love how language changes all the time, and creates new words as new situations arise.
As for the repeated words. . .they're like the old comfy slippers I wear around the house. When it's time to go out, I replace them with the pretty shoes. LOL They serve their purpose at the time, but I know they won't stay around. :)
Nothing drives Christine crazier than repeated word...okay, cliches!
My favorites are:
As
Really
Grinned/Smiled
Just
OMG!
Suddenly
I always have to do a Find and Replace on these.
I love the buzz words for the years.
Donna: How good to "see" you. We need to spend more time exchanging "words" cuddled up to the bar. How did you know I have pairs of slippers all over the house!
Those favorite words, Liz, just (that's one of them) keep on coming. I agree they are annoying. But, (another one of those words) they keep cropping up. I do a search and replace as well, but (again!) it's not always (another) easy to know which (another) to search for (sentence ended with a preposition!).
Great post, Cassy. I tend to repeat facial expressions and actions like shrugged, grinned, scowled, frowned, shook his head, etc. I love the face! I can't help it ;-) I'm a very visual person and love to "see" exactly what the character is doing and how he looks at that moment.
Gotta love the find and replace feature :-)
Morning Cassy. See you survived the latest onslaught by nature.
I'm with Kari Lee with facial expressions, especially look(ed) and grin(ned). Another word is 'it'. This one I'm getting very good at not using along with several of the words on your list.
Funny you should mention having a word in a historical that was invented yet. I ran across one such a few weeks ago. Sorry but I can't remember what the word was but I do remember it dodn't come into existance until the 1850's and the story wea set in pre-1820.
Me again. A friend told me about this website that will count words for you so you can see how many time you use a certain word.
http://wordcounter.com
Kari: Isn't it funny how we pick certain body movements and use them again and again. My folks shrug a lot. They also frown, nod and glance away.
Do I have a problem with over used words? Well that would be a BIG understatement. I think I was born with the simple vocabulary of 'that, so, and, well' and those are just a few, but those are my biggest problem. Oh I forgot 'but'. That's the biggest!
Great post Cassy!
Lindsay! Always good to "see" you here. I did survive that last storm. Except now I'm in NH for my father is quite ill. Since I have been here, we are on our third snow storm with subzero weather. I am not sure if I will be able to get home for a number of days.
Thanks for the wordcount site. I'll definitely check it out.
Actually my problem isn't so much with over used words but getting them in the right order on the page.
Must be a guy thing-not asking for directions.
LOL! I do have those words!! My CPs just circle them and go on. If I'm stuck, I do have them to help me out.
Words! Here we write them pages at a time and still worry if we have the right ones. Some times I'm tempted to pour them into a bag and just pull out the ones that jump in my hands. Maybe that would make a story- or at least a poem.
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