I just took a look at this article by Jeff Goins about weak words, that is, words that don’t work hard enough to make a sentence worthwhile.
You don’t always think about it as you first put words on the page, but when you edit, you should consider whether your words are captivating, descriptive, and original. The French call it the bon mot, the “good word” (sounds better in French, though, doesn’t it?) After all, when you write, words are all you’ve got to do what you want to do.
I would like to add a few more words to Mr. Goins’s list:
1. indescribable
What a lazy adjective! The point of adjectives is to describe, so if you can’t describe something, you might as well not have adjectives at all. You can describe anything if you make a sincere effort to use the vast expanse of your vocabulary.
2. awesome
My problem with the word awesome is not that it’s weak–on the contrary!–but it’s so overused that it has been sapped of its awesome power. Very few things are actually awesome, as in, they actually inspire such awe and disbelief that your jaw hits the floor. The Grand Canyon is awesome. The Milky Way is awesome. Risking your life to do what is right is awesome. Pretty much everything else that you might describe as awesome–your favorite movie, a friend’s outfit, a good grade in school–is merely entertaining, stylish, or impressive.
What are your verbal pet peeves? What words make you think a writer is dull or lazy or both?
