Reading all of your pet peeves yesterday, reminds me of all the words I tend to overuse, like “great”. If you read any of my blogs, you’ll see what I mean. “Amazing” is another. I should throw “just” into the mix as well.
The funny thing is, when I worked in publishing I was forever whipping out the thesaurus for other writers’ work, now I find myself suffering from overused word syndrome too. There are ways to get around this, of course. Using the aforementioned thesaurus or dictionary helps. Still, when I’m in a rush you’re certain to see lots of “greats”
What words do you overuse?
December 14th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
“Furthermore” and “What’s more” are bad habits. It wasn’t until a year ago that I realized how often I used both words - someone else brought it to my attention. Now I have to make a conscious effort to avoid them. But when I’m on a roll, they spill forth so naturally.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
significant
December 14th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I overuse the word “just”, especially in first drafts. I have to go through with the Red Machete — I could probably pave the road from NY to LA with discarded “justs”!
December 14th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Depends on what I am writing. I tend to use the word good, excellent and great a little too much. When I was teaching I used the word “Ok” and I had to break the habit.
Then when I am writing letters, I used “anyway” to change the direction of my ramblings. I realized I was doing that, stopped using anyway and started using “so”. If I am in a hurry I will read through what I wrote and find…
So I should…
So how are you…
and the all time worst
So anyway…
Now I try to pinpoint every word I use too often and try to avoid them.
So ;oP I think those are my biggest offending words.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Capture, and suggest. I work at a data house, so these come up a lot in such contexts as, “These data do not capture such and such,” or “The summary statistics suggest the following.” These words work so well, and I rarely depart from them. Actually, while we’re on that, it drives me crazy when people use the singular for data.
However, there are definately overused words that drive me up the wall, foremost among them are corporate buzz-words. My boss keeps saying, “I’ll need to have your institutional memory on this.” I know what she means, but it sounds ridiculous.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Lol Sirena, join the club. I’ve found that “So” is also one of my overused words. I usually have to go back after my first draft of something and cut out all the unnecessary “so, xyz”, “so, this and that” type sentences from my writing.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:06 am
When writing:
that
shock (shocking, shocked, shockingly, etc)
When speaking:
Anyway
December 15th, 2007 at 12:51 am
I use “just” and “a little” way too much. I’m not sure if there are others that come up a lot over the course of many pieces of my writing, but I do often discover that I’ll get a certain word or phrase in mind and use it repeatedly in the same document. I just have to be sure and edit a little more carefully.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:38 am
I tend to overuse the word awesome … Could it be from my Southern California upbringing - in the 80’s? Hee hee … Suzanne
December 15th, 2007 at 3:29 am
I am another “So” blogger. What is with that word? So…how do you propose we change that? teehee. I think I use “I think” more than I should.
I know that there are probably more, but I would need someone to read over my blog to let me know where I could make changes.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:27 am
When blogging, my overused phrase is “I mean”. When doing other kinds of writing, I have many, but my worst is probably “In addition”.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:41 am
“liaison”
“exasburbate”
“pristine”
“more times than not”
“in fact”
“overall”
“in general”
December 15th, 2007 at 4:43 am
I say the word ” like ” ALL OF THE TIME in every day conversation…I suppose that it would substitute for other people’s “uhhhhh’s” when they are trying to think of something! Don’t worry, it drives me nuts, too, and I usually do not catch it until after the fact! LOL
Happy weekend, everyone!
December 15th, 2007 at 5:11 am
My overused words are ‘honestly,’ ‘a bit,’ ’suddenly,’ and ‘rather.’ I overuse these so excessively that just typing them here makes me nervous. ‘Rather’ is a particularly bad one; I once rewrote a manuscript and was horrified to find no fewer than eight superfluous uses of ‘rather’ on one page.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:40 am
I also overuse ’so’ and find myself editing it out.
Sally — I used to write marketing materials and web content for a marketing data company so I know what you mean about folks using the singular for data!
December 15th, 2007 at 6:17 am
I know I overuse the word ‘however.’ But there’s a whole list of words I overuse that I don’t even realize I’m using. I have to go over my work and usually find one or two words that need to be taken out.
December 15th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Lance Luther - I’m glad to join the club.
I find the “uhhhs” annoying but I usually use “um”. I have friends in Texas who always bugged me about the Canadian accent, and would harp about the fact that I don’t say “eh”. That and “oot and aboot” are absent from my vocabulary, which pissed them off because they couldn’t laugh at me about it. I find I say “eh” only when I’m asking specific questions like “You know, eh?” I can’t think of the other times I use it but if I am around anyone that I know from the states, their ears prick up and they start laughing, “eh…eh!” They laugh even if I haven’t said it once in weeks.
December 15th, 2007 at 7:53 am
I too abuse the word “great.” I tend to overuse a lot of adverbs like “really,” “so,” and “very,” because I think it makes writing sound more conversational, but sometimes it can weaken the impact, too.
I also manage an writing intern who used to use exclamation points in nearly every sentence because she wanted to convey her enthusiasm. Come to think of it… she’s broken that habit and I’m really proud of her for it!!! (Just kidding about the triple punctuation.)
December 15th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I write marketing materials for several companies and, over the course of several years, have penned no less than 100 employee bios for one company in particular. I think 90% of them have the phrase, “joined the dynamic staff of [insert company name].” Even the thesaurus hasn’t helped. It drives me crazy. But, really, in my defense, how many ways can one find to say the same thing???
December 15th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Just
So
However
Nevertheless
December 15th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Maggot and awesome. I have my reasons.
December 16th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Sirena, I say “anyway” too much in emails, and probably also in my personal blog posts. I use “so” too much in the same places.
I’m sure there are about 50 other over-used words on my guilty list, but “however” is a big one for me.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Ooh, I’m guilty of using “anyway” too much too.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:35 am
great, festive, wonderful, beautiful
I guess you could say everything is “great” in my world:)
December 16th, 2007 at 5:36 am
Nothing notable in writing but in speaking I totally overuse:
‘ya know?’
‘man’ (as in “man what a hard day I had today!”)
!!
December 17th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Sometime I receive a call selling me services I don´t remember for what. But I do the “do you understand”´s saleswoman. It was really annoying
December 17th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I find myself using the word ‘besides’ all too often.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Mine isn’t a word so much as the lack of one. It’s the ellipsis … I talk with a lot of pauses, what can I say?
December 18th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I hate to admit it, but “like”. It grates on my nerves every time I hear it slip through my lips, but it happens anyway.
There are a few words that I used to say a lot, but I can’t remember what they were, as my beau started pointing them out every time I uttered them.
December 18th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I’m a monster when it comes to words that I know are grammatically incorrect. Starting sentences with, “Anyway,”, “Of course,”, “However,”, “After all,”, “And” etc. I try to eradicate these in my professional works but they still are prolific in my emails. If I get casual I can slip.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
“HIGH DEF.”
I’ve complained about this over-abbreviating phenomenon before. Are people too simple minded to speak out the entire word? Is “high definition” too taxing for their brain cells?
I refuse to abbreviate just to jump on the bandwagon.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
just, so, and well.