Page 10 | To think nobody ‘pads’ in real life, is this just a book thing? Stuff you only read in books…

Hottubby · 2022-10-29T13:12:21+00:00

‘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?

PriOn1 · 30/10/2022 18:07

There's a lot of this in certain television programmes such as Father Brown, set in the 50s, but the characters keep coming out out with phrases that were not around in the 50s.

I have a similar bugbear about series set in the past, but where they have shoved in a modern moral tale. If you want to do that, write in the present.

Although I had a similar but opposite reaction watching Outlander, where Clare (or whatever the main character was called) was clearly intended to be morally superior, where to me she just came across as smug. I had to give up on the series when she was raped and fell in love with her rapist.

Mlb123 · 30/10/2022 18:13

It brings to my mind images of large cats like tigers or even household type cats padding across a room or wherever in that self satisfied , kind of cocky way that cats have and I can't help but translate that into characters in books padding across a room in a cocky , arrogant, smug way. I have no idea if that has anything to do with why it irritates the op, but I get it totally xxx 😃

IpsyUpsyDaisyDoos · 30/10/2022 18:19

BIWI · 29/10/2022 14:16

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.

I know a girl who is in a new "love of her life" relationship and every photo she posts where they're sat down she's got her hand on his knee. Every one. It looks very possessive rather than loving.

BIWI · 30/10/2022 18:20

I agree! It feels a bit territorial and predatory.

Mlb123 · 30/10/2022 18:21

Discovereads · 29/10/2022 14:34

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

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I always think of it more than just walking silently as to me in books that's described as tiptoeing around. Padding to me is walking on the balls of your feet in an exaggerated,sensual,silent way lol! 😜

Mlb123 · 30/10/2022 18:27

Mind you, when I read anyone tiptoeing around it almost always leads to them failing in their attempts not to disturb someone and memory dictates that people have tripped over things like household objects and pet cats etc. Of course this is always directly in front of something that makes a huge crash like pottery, crockery etc . Oh yes I know this is absolute proof that I've read some major tosh over the years but I am a readaholic haha xxxx

QuestionableMouse · 30/10/2022 18:34

Giggorata · 29/10/2022 14:18

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.

That's just bad writing though.

Smiled should not be used as a dialogue tag!

siucra · 30/10/2022 18:42

Another writer here! The point is, I think, that the writer doesn’t want to say ‘walked’, she wants to convey a way of walking, a soft, comfortable, easy walk. And it’s a nice word, conjures an image of how the person is feeling. You don’t ‘pad’ if you are stressed. And I know we don’t use it in everyday life but when you are writing you are trying to convey so much. Just sticking up for fellow writers! And no, I’ve never used ‘pad’!

Rhaenys · 30/10/2022 18:42

Lovetotravel123 · 29/10/2022 14:15

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

Lol someone used it incorrectly in a conversation with me the other week. 😂

nannykatherine · 30/10/2022 18:49

WindowsSmindows · 29/10/2022 14:16

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

I came here to say this

Slv199 · 30/10/2022 18:51

losingit31 · 29/10/2022 14:17

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

You need to read Katie Fforde, the love interest is often a tradesman.

ItHasTheJuice · 30/10/2022 19:10

omg I remember there was a thread about the language they always use in Take a Break type true life magazines, it made me laugh so much. ‘Pad’ instead of walk was mentioned there too!

tothesea · 30/10/2022 19:19

I told DH earlier I could hear him guffawing from upstairs so I definitely use that word!
Padding is annoying, I think one author uses it then others copy. For a while I kept reading the word ‘glimmered’ in books. It’s the repetition that’s annoying to me.

Diva66 · 30/10/2022 19:23

Lions and tigers pad. I’ve never seen a person pad, our feet just aren’t mad that way.

Diva66 · 30/10/2022 19:28

Mlb123 · 30/10/2022 18:27

Mind you, when I read anyone tiptoeing around it almost always leads to them failing in their attempts not to disturb someone and memory dictates that people have tripped over things like household objects and pet cats etc. Of course this is always directly in front of something that makes a huge crash like pottery, crockery etc . Oh yes I know this is absolute proof that I've read some major tosh over the years but I am a readaholic haha xxxx

No, that absolutely does happen and I have the bruises to prove it! My night vision is poor and my balance is crap 😂

JC488 · 30/10/2022 20:04

SpidersAreShitheads · 29/10/2022 15:46

Yes, exactly. Same with someone “smiling” or “laughing” a sentence.

Surely they’re all descriptors which convey the mood of what you’re reading?

Otherwise it will be unbelievably dull “she walked across the bedroom then walked down the stairs. She walked the kitchen and then walked out to the car. Upon reaching work she walked to her desk”.

“She padded across the bedroom before creeping down the stairs. She tiptoed across the kitchen before walking out to the car. Upon reaching work she trudged to her desk.”

I mean, it’s not going to be part of a blockbuster novel but descriptors convey a mood even if they’re not likely in real life.

More realistic version:

She stumbled across the bedroom, falling over the dog who had decided to sleep in the most inconvenient place possible yet again. Trying to be quiet, she nearly fell down the full set of stairs because a rogue piece of bastard Lego was lurking on the top step. Instinctively recoiling as the yellow plastic buried itself into her foot, she bellowed “fuuuuck” as she slid down the first few stairs on her arse. Having woken everyone in the house, she stomped into the kitchen and went out to the car. On arriving at work she dragged herself to her desk, ready for another full day of bullshit.

😂😂😂

Teenagehorrorbag · 30/10/2022 20:12

Haven't RTFT so it's probably been said - but I hate it when they write about girls 'looking up through their eyelashes'. I've tried, it's not actually possible!

bluesapphire48 · 30/10/2022 20:17

Lousy writing. Find a better author. You are probably reading pulp fiction. There are too many good authors out there to waste your time on this stuff. To name a few: GEORGE ORWELL, JANE AUSTEN, THOMAS HARDY, DORIS LESSING, KURT VONNEGUT, DIANA GABALDON, ISABEL ALLENDE, PEARL BUCK, JEAN AUEL, and my favorite, GABRIEL GARCIA-MARCUS (a great novel is his LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, imho).

I'm sure I've left out lots of good authors, and probably named some writers people here won't like, but you have to look around and find your own favorites. A good place to start is with Nobel Prize winners in Literature. Or ask another librarian. There are some absolutely fantastic books out there.

Maybe Mumsnet folks can name a few more. My list of favorites won't be like yours, and yours won't be like anyone else's.

BiasedBinding · 30/10/2022 20:47

Discworld also a good place to start

JustFrustrated · 30/10/2022 20:49

Discworld is bloody awful.

I've banned, jokingly, Terry Pratchett in this house.

BiasedBinding · 30/10/2022 21:09

<shrug> I like loads of different genres, from pulp to booker prize, I don’t consider any of it a waste of time

Chikapu · 30/10/2022 21:20

bluesapphire48 · 30/10/2022 20:17

Lousy writing. Find a better author. You are probably reading pulp fiction. There are too many good authors out there to waste your time on this stuff. To name a few: GEORGE ORWELL, JANE AUSTEN, THOMAS HARDY, DORIS LESSING, KURT VONNEGUT, DIANA GABALDON, ISABEL ALLENDE, PEARL BUCK, JEAN AUEL, and my favorite, GABRIEL GARCIA-MARCUS (a great novel is his LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, imho).

I'm sure I've left out lots of good authors, and probably named some writers people here won't like, but you have to look around and find your own favorites. A good place to start is with Nobel Prize winners in Literature. Or ask another librarian. There are some absolutely fantastic books out there.

Maybe Mumsnet folks can name a few more. My list of favorites won't be like yours, and yours won't be like anyone else's.

There aren't enough eye-roll emojis in the world for this comment.

Ivyonafence · 30/10/2022 21:23

If we fed the text from this thread into a bot that writes chick lot, we'd have a best seller on our hands.

PuppyMonkey · 30/10/2022 21:29

bluesapphire48 · 30/10/2022 20:17

Lousy writing. Find a better author. You are probably reading pulp fiction. There are too many good authors out there to waste your time on this stuff. To name a few: GEORGE ORWELL, JANE AUSTEN, THOMAS HARDY, DORIS LESSING, KURT VONNEGUT, DIANA GABALDON, ISABEL ALLENDE, PEARL BUCK, JEAN AUEL, and my favorite, GABRIEL GARCIA-MARCUS (a great novel is his LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA, imho).

I'm sure I've left out lots of good authors, and probably named some writers people here won't like, but you have to look around and find your own favorites. A good place to start is with Nobel Prize winners in Literature. Or ask another librarian. There are some absolutely fantastic books out there.

Maybe Mumsnet folks can name a few more. My list of favorites won't be like yours, and yours won't be like anyone else's.

You okay hun?

Butteredtoast55 · 30/10/2022 21:31

I love a good bit of chick lit but hate it when writers talk about the main character brushing her 'locks' and 'tresses'. Nobody ever refers to their hair that way IRL.