spill (for clarification)

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

in incubus dreams, i got about halfway through before i began unofficially counting the number of times miss laurell used the world "spill" (or "spilled," "spilling," etc). unofficially, i counted maybe 8 or 9 "spills" before i started officially counting. 32 after that.

having started re-reading danse macabre, in the first 160 pages or so: 11. [EDIT: 16 at 314 pages. EDIT EDIT: 21 at 383 pages (also, 4 times on one page!)]

i know i have favorite words that i like to use, but this goes above and beyond. now, while reading danse macabre, i've tried to decide if other words could have been substituted and stayed true to the original meaning of the passage. yep.

a LOT of things annoy me about the series, especially the last 4 books, but this "spill" nonsense is what is bugging me this week. if miss laurell had an editor with ballz, perhaps it would have made a difference?

have you all noticed this overusage of the word "spill"?

Comments

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

In short: HELL YES.

That woman uses the word spill for everything and anything. Hair, power, clothing, and God knows what else. She's ruined the word so much that I can't even write the word spill in a perfectly ordinary context like "I spilled my drink" without going cross-eyed and banging my head against the wall.

The moral is that LKH ruins English vocabulary.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Just to add: I don't think we should blame an editor for an author's own lack of creativity.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

(*pained voice*) Yes. Oh yes.

Also "sweetie," "nude"/"nudity" (what's wrong with "naked"?), "metaphysical" and, ye gods, "power."

Though in those cases it might be more the way she uses them that bugs me rather than the frequency...

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

yeah, the parts where she tells natty or richard, "i want to see you nude" bug me. i've NEVER said that to any of my boyfriends. usually i say, "strip, b!tch" but you could say i'm a little mean.

[vmisery.livejournal.com]

I find that funny, because in earlier books she makes a big point that lycanthropes are never naked, just nude. Cause naked is self-conscious/vulnerable and nude isn't apparently and lycanthropes are so comfortable with lack of clothing.

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

She tends to overuse dozens of words, but yes, that's the most overused word of the bunch.

When I was reading the first Charlaine Harris novels, I noticed she liked to use the phrase "pleased as punch." I counted three or four in the first couple of books. I've finished the fourth book (fifth? I can't remember) and I haven't seen it since the second one.

If only Laurell could have done the same, with soooooo many things.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

is charlaine harris good?
i've been looking to try other "supernatural mystery/romance" authors to see if i like the genres. i've read some kim harrison and she's alright.

[dan-lian.livejournal.com]

God... who's got the icon with: "Erotic? I do not think this word means what you think it means"... I need to yoink it now.

[ellenel13.livejournal.com]

Yes. And, personal pet peeve, why don't you use capital letters?

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i was born without pinky fingers.
though i do capitalize on official/professional correspondence.

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

:)))
that's my favorite laurellism! :))
she did use it in the older books, when she was still readable, but it never seemed in excess.
then one day i noticed that suddenly many things were spilling. and when finally hands and weirder stuff started to spill.. that was my wtf moment..

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

exactement!
it was a novel descriptor at first...AT FIRST.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, teh spillage goes waaaaaay back.

Along with:

my sweetie (makes me wanna yark)
"Let me test my understanding..." - test THIS, bitch!!
vanilla
kitty-cat eyes
hair as black as mine
"He brought me..." Brought you where? To the loony bin?? Oooh, can we use the pointy thingies?!?!?
"He/I ate/fed at my/his mouth..." What, McDonald's run out of burgers?

You know, among others. :D

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha!

vanilla: i mean, really, does she have to rub it in our faces that he smells better than we do on any given day?
hair: she does seems obsessed with the color of her hair. darkity dark?

and yes! yes! yes! with the feeding at the mouth!!!!!!!!!!1

and the ardeur. i got incubus dreams on audio book as something fun to try and i cringed every time the reader said "ardeur."

here's another one that popped up here and there later in the series, but is in full force in DM: "i tried to put into my face what i felt for him." it makes me want to stab myself in the head.

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

:))))))))
while the spill amuses me greatly, i could feed her every single page with "kitty-cat eyes" written on it! that's just so lame! and more so that it mostly concerns the Tripod (Micah)..

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

"fuck buddy" - SLOW PAINFUL DEATH to whomever came up with that bloody phrase.

[skeezix74.livejournal.com]

The "ate" thing pisses me off to no end!

"We kissed and it was like he was trying to eat me from the mouth down."

Um sorry Laurita but in the context of vamps & werewolves, I do not get excited at the idea if being eaten in any way!

*headdesk*

[shadowbloodwing.livejournal.com]

Spill and nude. Most overused words ever! "Nude" is something a model is when they're posing for an art class, not something you say during foreplay. LKH needs a thesaurus and/or dictionary. Doesn't even have to buy them, there's a vast internet out there for her to utilize if she ever gets that smart. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but a girl can dream right?

Somehow I doubt it's the editor's fault. They're payed to check for spelling and grammar errors, not point out to the author that she's a stupid bitch in need of a bigger vocabulary.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

I can actually see using "nude" for just wandering around sans attire the way the lycanthropes do all the time. But when you're stripping for sex, it's not nude. It's naked.

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

I don't have any of the books in front of me for reference (I sold them a couple of weeks ago), but she used a couple variations of "double-edged sword" SEVERAL TIMES over the course of five or six of the novels.

Annoying.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I'm joining in the chorus of "let me test my understanding," hate. And I'll raise y'all a, "flat out did it for me/him/them/us." DID WHAT, BITCH? WHAT DID IT DO?!

And my favourite peeve of all: overuse of the word "vamp" (stabbity!).

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

flat out did it for me

Oh yes, that's another for the "way freaking overused" bin.

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Any reference to someone's pulse being candy.

Also, the use of the term "his body" to refer to a guy's penis. Often leading to ludicrous constructions like "His body was lying against his body..." or "I took his whole body into my mouth."

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i agree on the candy thing. its really bad in ID and DM.

"velvet muscle"

*stands back to let you appreciate the stupidity of that...way back*

[leggomylegolas.livejournal.com]

She also says things are "a line" a lot. "Like a line of fire" "his body was a line of muscle" wtf does that mean, Laurel.

"Made it a question" makes me want to hurt people. All you have to do is use one of THESE: "?" and we'll know, ok?

Anne Rice does it with "in sum". It's in every book multiple times. So fucking annoying.

[stickfigurepeep.livejournal.com]

The fact that the tone of his voice raised at the end of the sentence made it a question. The fact that his mother was a Valley Girl and he had adopted that habitual cadence of speech from her made it annoying.

I hate when people talk like that, but I can totally picture Nathaniel ending every sentence with an upward inflection. "Anita, do you love me? Because I made you some cookies? And I was thinking we should have sex? And maybe Micha could join? 'Cause I drool for his super hawt meat log? Even though I'm not gay? 'Cause gay is, like, so totally gross? I mean, eeww, Right?"

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

"screaming" and "I screamed" "He brought me screaming".

Anita screams way too damn much! She screams in bed, she screams when the bad guys scare her, she screams all the time! Enough already!

[slayra.livejournal.com]

All the words above are quite painful to read in the contexts LKH uses them. I have come to hate the word 'metaphysical' especially when connected with the word 'sex'. Her descriptions of sex are appaling at best, so yeah, those words... guh.

But another term/expression I now dread is 'Gallic shrug [that meant anything and nothing]'. :p

[nyktipolos.livejournal.com]

Happens in Merry Gentry as well.

Several times in her latest books everyone seems to be swallowing the moon in their skin. Or the sun in their skin. Bah.