this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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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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[–] askheidi@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Brandon Sanderson loves the word adroit.

[–] linglinguistics@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Brandon Sanderson also has new favourite words/ expressions for each book. In one book, everyone did everything 'for some reason'. It annoyed me so much. Especially since the reason was sometimes obvious (like someone being solemn for some reason after a character died.) I had a whole list of these words, a new bad habit for every new book, so to speak.

[–] typish@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

And "regardless"

[–] Hoosier2016@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Adroit, maladroitly. Several times in every book it seems like.

[–] Viltris@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Is maladroitly an alloy of adroitly?

[–] hm_joker@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maladroitly in Mistborn. Ostentatious in Warbreaker.

[–] Dyllmyster@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Ostentation gets a pass because it’s a sin in 2/3 of the main character’s religion so it would make sense to come up a lot.

[–] circlinglines@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Not to mention the word “advent”!

[–] Ch3353man@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I seem to recall alacrity also being used quite often.

[–] raptor102888@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Only in his early books. Elantris, Mistborn. He's grown out of it since then.

[–] Ethra2k@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah it was like 3 uses in first mist born. And only 1 in rest of series. But because it was there so much in the first book it became a meme. Uncertain about how much it was in Elantris.

[–] askheidi@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

He used it twice in one chapter in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, which was released this year.

[–] askheidi@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

No, I read two of them in a single chapter in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter which is what reminded me.

[–] ARoofie@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Not to mention the hundreds of times someone "paused" in his Mistborn series

[–] Silmarillien@alien.top 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also the phrase: "(s)he raised an eyebrow". He used that over 40 times in one of his books.

[–] JRPaperstax@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Also “(s)he pulled his/her mouth into a line.” Constantly in the Stormlight archive, at least.