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Do you ever notice an author using a word over and over again? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by PastaConsumer@alien.top to c/books@metacritics.zone

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I’m currently reading The Duke and I and the author is constantly using the word “acerbic”. I had never heard of the word before now and had to google the definition. The word has shown up so much that I’m tempted to go through the book and count its appearances lol.

Have you noticed any authors having favorite words that they use page after page?

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[–] Moldy_slug@alien.top 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)

So many in A Song of Ice and Fire:

winesink
jape
sell sword
whore

…and George, buddy, for fuck’s sake quit saying someone forked their horse. The word you’re looking for is STRADDLED.

[–] bigjoeandphantom3O9@alien.top 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Two of those are professions tbf. It isn't just him overusing adjectives, or inventing the noun out of nowhere (fuck nuncle).

[–] marktwainbrain@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Nuncle is the actual archaic word

[–] Moldy_slug@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Mercenary is a profession. “Sellsword” is an anachronistic term used only by modern fantasy books. If he doesn’t like using mercenary too often, there are plenty of synonyms: soldier of fortune, professional soldier, hired arms, free lances, condottiere…

Similarly, he insists on using “whore” every time the narration or any character refers to a sex worker or an unchaste woman. That gets tiresome and repetitive, especially since it’s one of the more offensive options. Do none of his characters ever use polite euphemisms? Or even just other impolite terms? Does the narration benefit from using whore all the time instead of more neutral (and possibly more accurate) terms? Why are they all “whores” and never prostitutes, ladies of the night, streetwalkers, harlots, tarts, strumpets, doxies, Trollope, molls, courtesans, fille de joie, trulls, vixens, mistresses, concubines, hussies, or tramps?

I don’t mind the occasional use of whore or sellsword, but to use them exclusively when there are so many evocative and nuanced synonyms is just lazy writing.