Use of "said" (was Re: OOP: Disappointing)

[Stacy Forsythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 66593

quoth joann0012:

>Recommending the overuse of "said" in lieu of the many useulf and
>fundamental alternatives so that the book is "easier to read," especially 
>for a
>12-year-old, reminds me of the rationale that Levine, the editor at 
>Scholatsic,
>used when Bowdlerizing the title and contents of HP and the Philosopher's
>Stone.


I've actually read a number of writing/style manuals lately (I do volunteer 
editing for a small publisher in my city) in which the use of "said" almost 
all the time is recommended over the more flowery alternatives.  I know, I 
thought the opposite as well, but the rationale is that "said" is an 
invisible word that the reader's mind will just skip, whereas the more 
specific verbs can serve as distractions from the overall reading 
experience.  The manuals didn't say not to use such words at all, but 
definitely recommended doing so sparingly, and falling back on "said" far 
more often than not.

An observation, for what it's worth.


Stacy Forsythe
deadstop at wombatzone.com