Check this out: according to this wee bit o’news forwarded to me by many a reader there are now internet words that inspire the ire. No kidding.
According to the article, the internet words people hate the most:
1. folksonomy
2. blogosphere
3. blog
4. netiquette
5. blook (aka Blog-to-book)
I agree. I hate the world “blog.” And “Blogosphere” makes me want to commit crime. If I could wear normal tshirts, I’d be wearing this one. All the time.
But I was thinking yesterday that a LOT – as in more than three of the last 5 books I’ve read – have used the word “scudded” to describe clouds moving across the sky. What happened, was it the “writer’s word of the day” while manuscripts were being composed? I’ve seen it in a few contemporaries and a few historicals, too. It’s like the new version of “pelisse-” remember when every historical heroine had to put on a pelisse at some point and it was never sufficient protection from the elements?
Has anyone else noticed certain words in romance fiction becoming “trendy” for a time, to the point where you get incredibly tired of them? Not just sexual terms, either, though we’ve talked about that. More like words that seem to spread like viral videos from one set of books to the next. Anyone else notice this or am I just nuts?
What happened to ‘ministrations’? Jesus, I hate that word. Talk about drawing you up short and thinking…It’s just such an awful, clumsy ghastly word. It makes me think he’s wrapping a bandage or maybe popping a boil. It’s a fussy word, too, like they’re being all prim and proper.
Ahem. No strong feelings there at all. Yeah, that one’s old.
I’d have to go with “mewled”. It seems like every time I’ve read a book with a sex scene in it lately, the heroine always freaking mewls. It’s just… ew. It makes me think of baby animals, and from there it’s just a short hop to baby animal rape. And it just doesn’t seem very accurately descriptive.
I mean really, have you ever freaking mewled? I sure as hell haven’t.
Emily, now look what you’ve done! I’ve got euphemisms coming out my ass (or “chocolate starfish” as my husband calls it).
http://www.starma.com/penis/
This is the main page, she’s got euphemisms for female parts, male parts, and the things you do with those parts. So no writer will be without options from now on.
Never heard of pebbling, but it sounds suspicious to me.
Joyce, Mewling? Are you serious?
And oh, yeah, I’ve heard a chuckle. It’s always from the fat uncle with the long beard at Thanksgiving.
I think I mewled once during an episode of sleep paralysis, but that was only because I couldn’t scream.
Danielle: Thanks for the information, although I find I’m perplexed. If librarians and programmers are the only ones who know what folksonomy is, or for that matter really care, how did it top the list of internet words we love to hate? I’m just saying, if they are the only ones who use the term it would seem the survey couldn’t have been all that scientific.
I’m terribly glad I wasn’t the only one on the folksonomy ignorance front, thanks to Jocelynne Simone and Jenny Crusie for coming out of the closet with me. Now if I can only find an excuse to use it in a sentence… hmmm, I’m thinking.
As for repetitive word usage, I have a habit of finding a new author I like and then reading their entire backlist back-to-back. When you do that the words they love to use, over and over, become quite apparent. Such as Christine Feehan’s use of velvet, every vagina is described as being velvety in some way or another, LKH loves to describe the pulse point at the neck as being “like candy”, and Stephanie Laurens has every damn hero laving the breasts of their heroines. Sometimes I want to send them a heads-up email and say for once can we please have a book without that word or phrase?
An author I’ve been reading a lot of recently and who I like great deal always, always uses the word “oubliette” at least once. I mean, every single book. Does anyone even use this word? I have a pretty extensive vocabulary and I didn’t know what it meant until I looked up how to spell it just now. It sounds like a medieval torture device.
I’ve known what oubliette meant since high school… because that’s when I watched Labyrinth. I don’t care what you say, David Bowie was hot in that movie. (But not hawt or HOTT. Shudder.)
Overused words? Blinked and nodded. I read one book where the heroine was always nodding and blinking, or blinking and nodding. Okay, sit at your desk and do that for a minute. Now do it again. And again. And again. Are your coworkers looking at you funny yet? No? Blink and nod, nod and blink. Bet they are now. Has anyone asked you how long you’ve been off your meds? Nod and blink. Blink and nod. Do it long enough and I bet you’ll get sent home for the rest of the day because your boss thinks you’re on the verge of some sort of mental breakdown, or expects you to bust out in Tourette’s-style torrents of profanity at any moment.
Blinkblinkynodnodnodblinkitynod…
Oh, that adult euphemism site is just… just… words fail me. One thing’s certain, however. In some upcoming erotic romance, I’ve gotta use some of these. Truly.
He thrust hard, his ba-donk-a-donk sinking deep into her winkin’ pink brownie cake…
Oh yeah, baby. Sexxxxxx-ayyy!
Re: the word “dick” – from what I’ve heard from authors with Ellora’s Cave they do not like that word. Why “cock” is any more acceptable I’m not sure…
I like to read my own writing out loud as I edit – lots of clunky / overused phrases jump out at you then!
I personally can’t stand “blook” or “folksonomy” either. So, do they have “blarticles” these days as well, or “blessays”? Give me a fucking break.
“Folksonomy”is a tacky coining by Clay Shirky, I think. While I love the idea of informal categorisation and the trends that emerge with it, could they have come up with any more patronising expression? I have to say that “folks” is one of those American terms that makes me think of Appalachian hill farmers at the best of times – it’s not a happy juxtaposition with the concept they’re trying to describe.
One of the things that drives me nuts at present is the mashing together of two names to talk about a couple. If I hear “Brangelina” once more, I’ll kill something.
I just read an Anne Rivers Siddons where she used “sullen” 3 times in two pages.
The blurb also promised a big scandalous finish. Said scandal would have been noteworthy in, oh, 1957 or thereabouts. But that’s an entirely different topic.
Okay all…WOOT: We Own the Other Team
This refers, but is not limited to, online mass multiplayer games. It originated in Online First Person Shooter servers when team members wanted to cheer each other on. “To be owned” means to have your ass whipped, be annihilated, or
. Now w00t or WOOT or wooT is an expression of exuberance.
My husband reads over my shoulder every time I come to smart bitches. He won’t go there himself…not sure why. 🙂 But, he wanted to say CONGRATS on the book deal. 🙂
It isn’t just romance – have you noticed how the talking heads on news & weather stations can’t say “moving” or “going” anymore? Everyone and everything is “making its way.” A storm system is making its way across the Midwest, commuters are making their way around the outerbelt, party-goers are making their way to the buffet table.. just go, already!
My favorite romance love-to-hate is ‘feisty.’ Especially when it is used to describe someone with the tact and sensitivity of a chainsaw, apparently in the hope of making her obnoxious behavior somehow appealing.
I just read some utterly forgettable piece of garbage in which the author indulged her obession with “as well as.” I don’t think the word “and” appeared once in the entire book (I’m thinking search-and-replace had to be involved to achieve this level of and-ocide). It will be months before I can look upon those words, even sparingly used, without developing a twitch.
*placed96* As in, “Placed 96 occurrences of ‘as well as’ in the first 10 pages.”
Glad to be helpful, Qadesh. And Jessica, thanks for the etymology of “woot”—I always thought it was an onomatopeiac expression. Like zipper, which is my spam capture word for this comment.
Bone-deep.
As an adjective.
e.g. “..with a bone deep certainty”
I’ve come across at least three authors using it a lot recently.
‘S too much.
I recently read a book where the author used ‘denude’ to describe the removal of clothing. It was used accurately, but I associate this word with erosion and weathering. It created an unpleasant visual for me.
Oh, crap… I used ‘scudded’, too.
Verification: still47 – hey, that’s my age!
I mewled when the doctor popped my shoulder back into its socket.
I’m almost ashamed to admit, I’ve never mewled with pleasure. Maybe I’ve mewled without knowing it? Maybe while I was insensate with pleasure… flung, gasping, upon the farthest shores of sensation… shattered into a million points of light… merged soul-deep in the greatest sharing of all…. Yeah, then I might not have noticed the mewling.