To think nobody ‘pads’ in real life, is this just a book thing? Stuff you only read in books…

[Hottubby]

‘She slipped on his shirt and padded across the room ‘
Does anyone ‘pad’ in real life? I have read it 4 times this week (I’m on holiday and reading a lot of chic lit!). Why is it only used in books?

I know what you mean. I get irritated by 'he/she said simply' after a line of dialogue. It doesn't really describe anything to me!

Ha! Total bugbear of mine too.

The only person I know who padded anywhere was my grandad – the way he picked up his feet in his blue slippers and placed them back down in a half-shuffle on the thick carpet was definitely a 'pad' sound.

But other than him, I'm with you!

Eyes flash in books. What does that even mean? Nothing.

Yes, I have thought the same. Another one is ‘to guffaw’. Nobody says that in real life.

Maybe you're reading shit books? Nobody pads in Jane Austen

I'm reading a series of chick lit books right now - mostly good stories, definitely pass the time of day, but won't win any prizes for literature

But what the author keeps writing, to demonstrate how much the couples love each other, is that he 'put his hand on her knee'. Over and over. In all of her different books. It's so lazy.

And the male love interest is much more likely to be a self-made millionaire than a tradesman or an unemployed cocklodger.

'Marvelling' at stuff. Especially in sex scenes...

Maybe she's got a knee fetish?

I must admit, I pad sometimes. When I'm up late and DH is asleep.

What I find weird is people smiling a sentence. As in:
”That's all right,” she smiled.

Eyes go ‘hooded’ as well, I’ve never understood that !

also, 'studying her face in the mirror' or similar to segue into giving the reader a discription of the character.

‘‘Hair in an elegant chignon’ and ‘wearing a filmy peignoir’ stick in my mind from some of the absolute trash I read as a teenager 😭

I often pad across the floor, usually in my husbands oversized shirt which I’ve just thrown on and ruffling my hair, which is tousled just the right amount

Something about the way women come down stairs - she tripped gaily down the stairs - or something along those lines, never just walked down the stairs like a normal person and however the woman manages to navigate the stairs it is always, always, gaily.

Likewise bosoms always heave.🙄

I pad! I have a teen shift worker who is very considerate about the noise he makes coming in at night, so I pad about in the morning.

I pad. I have downstairs neighbours and high strung parrots.

Ooh, I instantly dislike a character who "pads" 😂 Ditto any character who owns anything in "buttery soft" leather.

@WindowsSmindows

Annnnd the literature snobs are here immediately.

Jane Austen wrote a pile of boring crap that would NEVER be published today.

HTH

@Hottubby YANBU but I don't recall seeing someone 'padding' in anything I've read.

I pad when I walk. It’s an engrained habit to walk as silently as possible.
my DH thinks I’m trying to kill him with a heart attack by sneaking up on him…but honestly, I’m just padding when I walk.
my DCs used to think I could teleport as I’ll just randomly appear to them as they won’t have heard me coming.

I am always disappointed when "padded" pops up, puts me right off! Although there is often a feeling that it might arise, when the chick lit is patronising and sexist mostly... I'd be happy to read stomped, thudded or "walked without trying to look light/cute/feminine while being submissive to her macho love interest".

Padding is walking silently. You can’t hear footsteps or clothes rustling or floors/stairs creaking. Your grandad wasn’t padding.

So funny, who gives a shit what people are reading and be judgemental about it?

No I dont think padding is meant to indicate walking silently, its meant to portray a sensuous type movement, like a cat pads when it walks. It is sort of silent but in the sort of books that would use such a description its more to describe the character and their characteristics rather than the style of walking

These are the same books that have lots of saturnine faces or cat like eyes or things like that.

Jayne Eyre would never pad, either.