Excellent series. I love these little gems of words, special, rare, beatific. Alas, more often than not, I forget about them. I have to read them many times. A cabinet of special words sounds delicious!
On the other spectrum are words writers tend to overuse, but that would be another series.
Excellent series. I love these little gems of words, special, rare, beatific. Alas, more often than not, I forget about them. I have to read them many times. A cabinet of special words sounds delicious!
On the other spectrum are words writers tend to overuse, but that would be another series.
Thanks Alexander! I certainly had to think hard to recall my own selection. All to easy to forget, as you say—indeed, if somebody asks me to think of word I like, apparently all words temporarily disappear from my mind. Um… how helpful!
That would definitely be another series… and potentially a dangerous, because in reply somebody could point out something that one repeats too much oneself! I do say “well” a lot. Well, perhaps that is not too much of a problem. Anyway, never mind. (“Anyway”—that’s another one!)
Oh dear! I rather like whatnot… but not in meetings, which are a different question entirely and have their own abominable language. Almost any word can become intolerable in a meeting. Why does everything seem to be a space these days? “In this space”, “in the such-and-such space”… and whatnot.
I once recorded a meeting and played it back for everyone afterwards, an effective lesson in public speaking. All the "ahhms" and "uuuhms," or elongated "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehs" after almost every word. Yes, evil filler words... and then there's the classic "but ahm", like, you know, when you say it, like, a lot, like right now.
One could indeed, a potpourri of words and phrases. such as "he screwed up his eyes." I can only screw up my eyes at the frequent use of such a phrase, sometimes screwing them up with fear, smiling, scrutinizing, a lot of eye screwing going on in War and Peace...
Excellent series. I love these little gems of words, special, rare, beatific. Alas, more often than not, I forget about them. I have to read them many times. A cabinet of special words sounds delicious!
On the other spectrum are words writers tend to overuse, but that would be another series.
Thanks Alexander! I certainly had to think hard to recall my own selection. All to easy to forget, as you say—indeed, if somebody asks me to think of word I like, apparently all words temporarily disappear from my mind. Um… how helpful!
That would definitely be another series… and potentially a dangerous, because in reply somebody could point out something that one repeats too much oneself! I do say “well” a lot. Well, perhaps that is not too much of a problem. Anyway, never mind. (“Anyway”—that’s another one!)
Everyone has their vices ;)
My 100% current detested word is “what not”. Urrggh. In meetings so many people say “Yes, and this and that and what not.”
It’s become so overused. I hate it. I hate it with a passion.
In equal place, is ending a conversation with “do you know what I mean?”
Oh dear! I rather like whatnot… but not in meetings, which are a different question entirely and have their own abominable language. Almost any word can become intolerable in a meeting. Why does everything seem to be a space these days? “In this space”, “in the such-and-such space”… and whatnot.
Eh oh. But yes, I'm sure you're right, it's the context in which it's used.
I once recorded a meeting and played it back for everyone afterwards, an effective lesson in public speaking. All the "ahhms" and "uuuhms," or elongated "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehs" after almost every word. Yes, evil filler words... and then there's the classic "but ahm", like, you know, when you say it, like, a lot, like right now.
Hah! You should write a post on “A trash dump of overused words.” ;)
One could indeed, a potpourri of words and phrases. such as "he screwed up his eyes." I can only screw up my eyes at the frequent use of such a phrase, sometimes screwing them up with fear, smiling, scrutinizing, a lot of eye screwing going on in War and Peace...