Forums » RP Discussion » Over used words in roleplay.

I RP on Tumblr and Facebook at times. I have come across some repetitive words that people seem to over use. One that kind of grates me is the word "smirks". I see it so much in posts. I see it more on those places I mentioned. "Smirk" is an examle I am tossin' here.

She smirked.
He smirked.
Smirks
Smirking

The list can go on.

I prefer "Coy grin" or "smug".

So, spoons and forks.

What are some over used words that irk or annoy you?

I feel like I'm overusing said/says all the time...

Sadly, I am guilty of thay myseldf.

I suppose it's difficult to get around

I don't believe in the overusing of a word, simply because it's impossible to write without using words a lot. What about words such as "is" or "in" or "the"? They happen more frequently than a word like "smirk", but we're not bothered by those.

Maybe it's not the words and their frequency, but just bad writing that makes it difficult to get through someone's posts. It can appear as if someone is just using specific phrases excessively, when it's really just poor writing skills emerging.

I actually really can't agree with this Quoting Neil Gaiman, "The word said is to prose what the arrow of a word balloon is to comics." Basically, Said Bookisms can become extraordinarily aggravating. Snarled, commented, concluded, questioned, muttered, mumbled, "mused matter-of-factedly", all these lose their effect when used over and over again. Besides, using said-bookisms too much can make a post look like the script for a brazillian soap opera.

Here's an example of how said bookisms can be hilariously awful when trying to write a serious post.

I see the word 'giggled' too much.

I find Say and said as an essential part of a Rp. I mix it up usually, using Said, Exclaimed, Gasped, Sighed, Laughed, etc. But the ONE word that irks me so bad is "lust". No, just, no. An rp that states "With lust in his/her eyes" kills it for me. Lust isn't actually love people!

And "Chuckled". Well, more on Tumblr Rps. "Giggled" seems to work better on child characters IMO.

I am guilty of overusing "also" as well.

I see 'giggled' in romance RPs actually.

I am guilty of overusing giggle, giggles, giggled... I prefer giggle over laugh especially in a flirting setting. I am working on making sure I word my post more carefully but I do overuse some words. Words like "a bit" "would" "nod" "tilt" and a few others.

I kind of like "snerk", "guffaw", "snicker" and "snigger".

Not exactly a word, but I get the irrits with people spending way too long talking about physical features. Especially eyes.

If it gets to the point where you have to use 'orbs' to avoid redundancy, I'd say it's time to stop talking about their 'darting, emerald gaze'.

I see no problem in using some words multiple times. If I ever bring one character here, I'll be using the word 'smirk' very often because that's how he is

There might be a problem however, if within the same post you use the same word over and over and over again even if there are synonyms for that word. Sure you can use the same word but it might take away from the rest of the post
Mmmmm... Like with the word 'say' you can try to think of the situation. How do they say it? Do they shout? Sigh? Mutter, stutter... Anything? There are a lot of other words~
Just don't get too fancy or it'll become confusing

This has been my poor attempt on trying to use the writing methods our high school English teacher told us on the writing course (note: I'm not native)

I also see the "eyes turn [color]" in almost every roleplay I join. (Not here though, I am safe here )

"The sun rose"

"The sun beat down"

"The sun shone brightly"

I swear, if there's one more rp that begins with the position of the sun in the sky or how the sun feels, I'll. ..I'll. ..probably not do anything, whatever.

It's just so passive though. So the sun's where it is, so what?

I think my biggest beef with that goes bigger than the sun though. It's when the mundane is described for the sake of being described. Oh, how the useless display of purposeless words disheartens me! I tend to lose all passion for an rp after a few mundane posts. /kuz im dramatique

"orbs", for eyes. every time it makes me think of perfectly round eyes like billiard balls.

I have never really understood the whole orbs/oculars etc. for eyes thing. Kind of the same as tresses for hair though to a smaller degree. I have just always used hair and eyes myself as the aforementioned seems kind of strange to me. Of course people are free to describe their characters the way they want.

As for actual word overuse, I'm kind of in the middle. I would raise an eyebrow if someone said something like snickers/giggle or some other more flowery word multiple times in a single post. Probably think, "Was that the only word they could think to use and the only way they could describe it?"

That being said, multiple uses of the word said wouldn't get any reaction out of me unless it was maybe used to a ridiculous extent.

That being said, I like it when there is some variety to the words used as long as it's not to a ridiculous extent as shown in the bookisms link. Too much of a good thing you know?

I recently stumbled upon this video, and I couldn't help but think of this thread. The frequent recurrence of specific words can be traced by to a phenomena that pretty much dictates that certain words are naturally bound to be written/used more often than others. This phenomena extends to... virtually anything in the world, apparently! It's a pretty lengthy video that might make your brain hurt, but perhaps it explains why some of these 'over used' words are so 'over used'.

WAIT! Stop everything. You watch Vsauce?