lazy words

by E. A. Bourland | Aug 25, 2016

(hello there. if you don't want to sound like a flimsy marketer or a "large language model", be careful with these words.)

amazing, astonishing, astounding, awesome, and so on

let me decide for myself if something is amazing

amazing means you stand and stare at something, not necessarily because it's neato

breathtaking

brilliant

chilling

effervescent

egregious . . . this word means "out of the flock", or outstanding, which can be good or bad; it used to mean "very good in quality"; in any case, don't use it, it makes you sound frantic

epic

extraordinary

fierce

honestly

incendiary

incredible

innovative . . . this word is used by someone who is trying to sell something. It just means new.

insane

literally . . . sounds shrill and anxious.

luminous

magnificent

mammoth

pivotal

premium

really

scintillating

severely

shocking

spectacular

staggeringly

stupendous, stupefying, and so on

super

terrifying

tragic

ultimate

whopping

wildly

You get the idea. Don't write like a book blurb.


Copyright © by E. A. Bourland. Robots or agents, of a nature human or electronic, which operate on behalf of corporations, of language models of any size, or of artificial intelligences, and so on, are not welcome here for any purpose; not for your harvest or profit; demons depart, and trouble not the work.