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 really enjoy Jenny Colgan books, i think they are uplifting and comforting escapism, but bloody hell the protagonist always ends up padding somewhere. I always tut when I read it!

Child abuse survivor. Best to be unseen and unheard.

I once abandoned a book when she "moistened her lips" three times in as many chapters

I'm a writer. I have a loose rule - no more than three sentences before reiterating who is speaking. I'm glad I seem to be right about that. 😁

I'm also pleased that, so far, I'm not guilty of any of the writing sins justly condemned on this thread. No padding for MY characters.

Then again, I don't write chick lit or romance so maybe that's the reason.

I once abandoned a book set in the 20’s when the main character wore a Christian Dior lipstick.

Christian Dior was unheard of before 1947.

Alsk abandoned another book where the phrase ‘Sister from another mister’ was used. This book was set in the 70’s. No one said that then.

I went on a creative writing course several years ago. We had a brief discussion about what was 'bad' writing, and all had to write a couple of paragraphs of such. It was so much easier to write bad stuff - and I think based on this thread we could all have a serious go at writing seriously bad chick lit!

... or bad anything. Chick lit is getting a bad name on this thread, I think.

True, I gave up on A Discovery of Witches when the vampires started doing yoga, I'd found all the rowing quite trying too.

I'm reading a series just now where the author has written "she pulled her lip above her teeth" so many times. What does that mean? Not smiling in the context.

Is it that funny thing we'd do in school where you dry your top teeth then push your top lip up on them? Usually accompanied by a john major voice?

@EatingWormsMichael That's the only thing I can imagine it meaning. Every time I read it I try to "pull my lip above my teeth" and that's the face that I do. But it's always at serious moments, like "contemplating the brutal murder of his father, he pulled his lip above his teeth".

I tend to schlep, mooch, lurch, shuffle, stagger, stumble, dodder, and in particular wobble across the place. Those perhaps do not quite convey a more delicate movement... 😄

Themz The Roolz re being a cute and unthreatening woman!

You always pad around the house - mostly barefoot, occasionally with oversized socks.

Wearing an oversized shirt or jumper (off the shoulder)

Cuffs will be slightly too long, coming down to your knuckles

Wine glasses will be oversized, as will mugs for coffee. And mugs will always be cradled, never held by the handle.

There will likely be rain streaming down windows and curtains will never be drawn.

if venturing out from the house, the outfit will likely be in various shades of cream/winter white. Will often involve a cute hat.

To go back to OP, padding is one of my pet hates. It’s nothing to do with moving stealthily or quietly. It’s definitely meant to convey a kind of nonchalant, yet sensual, movement around the property. Otherwise “she crept” or “she tiptoed” would be used more often.

Every time I would walk silently around the house, my sister would call it not padding, but "lurking" or "creeping", like I was some sort of malicious ghoul.

I'm imaging something like this

This irritates me too.

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.

If you're writing for a particular period surely the least you can do is make sure you get this sort of thing correct.

Haha my dad said this,except i got worse.he said I was like death! Bastard😁.

I pad, for me it means a way of walking, more landing on softer part of foot not heal.Certainly if I read that (I think) on know what the writer was meaning. Works for me anyway.

One that annoys me is the statement 'it was all she could do not to' xyz. Wtf does that even mean!

YANBU, it’s awful. My bug bear is ‘she bit her lip’.

On Eastenders; they love to say "besides"

Never heard it used in real life

Guffaw is a descriptive word not onomatopoeia… unlike hahaha

Ooh no, that's definitely a well-used phrase - I even had a man saying this to me on a date - 'your eyes had flashed just now, very exciting'. And yes it happens often when flirting - but you need expressive eye with a spark.

Yep