I don't want to ruin every book you're going to read from now, but have you noticed they all have the word

[Cify]

Detritus.... in therm?

And now I've noticed it I can't stop seeing the word in everything I read.

And yet I've never heard a single friend complaining about the detritus in their kitchen.

Please tell me I'm not alone? Do you notice certain words or phrases (that people don't actually say in real life) being used over and over again in novels?

Actually my dad has always complained about detritus in the kitchen. He also refers to washing up as 'slaying the dragon' and insists his tea is poured four-fifths full then stirred until homogeneous. Haven't met books using those, yet.

Rheumy eyes become milky eyes in misery lit.

I'm so late to this thread but I just need to bow down before ScribblyGum and her genius

I stopped reading Elizabeth George because characters kept 'forking up' food and something was always 'coruscating'.

Another pet hate is the 'scooping up' of small children or women.

Sophie Kinsella constantly has someone rubbing her dry face. Use some bloody moisturiser, woman!

Ha! I came here to say 'pad'
Eurgh.

Hot liquid, padded, grimaced, a slick of lipstick and then the slim young heroine shrugs on her coat and slings a bag that's always made of the softest, buttery leather over her shoulder, before heading out to begin her day.....

Oh, how long have I spent trying to find soft, buttery (WTF?) leather in my tiny price range?

Anyone else notice that people's words always 'catch' in their throats?

Yes, personally I've always found that butter does nothing to improve any leather bag I've ever owned

It really bugs me how everyone ever in the history of all books, when they drink something, they always"sip" it.

I am a gulper, my mum is a gulper and my dad is a gulper. My son is a gulper. Bloody sippers, letting their drinks get cold/warm/flat.

I say that word often

People booming is my pet hate. ‘Hello Jilly’ he boomed.

I just listened to 63 hours of Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged' on Audible and everyone was constantly 'incredulous' and they did everything 'incredulously'. What's wrong with astounded, amazed, astonished, surprised, taken aback, disbelieving, doubtful, sceptical etc? And everyone seemed to conduct every conversation very loudly - everyone 'cried', 'screamed', 'shouted', 'yelled', 'shrieked'. Gave me a headache just thinking about it.

Something I've noticed is that in a certain kind of book what the heroine is wearing is always detailed as well as the way she wears her hair. It's so boring. I don't care about her flowered shirt with turned up jeans, or her subtle scarf teamed with a loose cashmere wrap (not those combinations, obviously).

And in the same kind of books the hero always turns up for an unexpected 'supper' with some pate, some French cheese (type specified), some crusty bread and a bottle of her favourite Merlot. They always eat this kind of meal in books. They never have jambalaya or pork chops and mash.

“Their lips crashed together” - Every fanfic kissing scene. Makes me wonder if the authors have ever kissed anyone?

Ohhh, the sweet smell of decomposition. I’ve read a lot of crime fiction and had concluded that corpses must smell like Southern Comfort - sweet but gross. Then a mouse died under my bed, and it did NOT smell sweet, it smelled like shit. I mentioned this to a doctor acquaintance (must up my smalltalk game) and apparently it’s to do with aerobic vs anaerobic bacteria.

Stupid bloody literature.

Ontop it would be more realistic if the hero appeared with bags bulging with M & S's finest 'Dine in for 2 for £10'.

'Just a little intimate supper for two, darling,' he murmured suggestively, as Sophie blushed inwardly at the thought of what might follow after their hand-crafted chicken'n' ham lattice with rosemary potatoes, individual millionaire's shortbread desserts and a bottle of indifferent but just-about-acceptable red'

I just listened to 63 hours of Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged' on Audible

Bless your soul.

Danielle Steele's people always eat steak and salad. Always.

Yes, or the pizza or curry delivery menu!

I remember reading the word 'detritus' in a mystery shopper report for one of my stores once.

I was baffled. Really couldn't understand why they used it like it was a piece of everyday language

Also, on holiday last year, we stayed in a house with a Barbara Taylor Bradford trilogy supposedly about really rich people. Over the course of forty years they ate the same meal and drank the same two wines.

My soul needed a good deal of blessing after that. But once I commit to a project ... One virtue of Ayn Rand is she never specifies what people are eating, though she does pay quite a lot of attention to clothes and eye colour. Her heroes always show their purity of mind through chiselled faces and lean bodies and upright carriage. Her villains are soft, portly and slump.

DoAsYouWouldBeMumBy they're sippers to begin with because the java is always scorching hot. Presumably they gulp later like the rest if us but the author chooses not to mention that.:o

Alone, after agonising over her dilemma, the heroine shrugs her shoulders and makes a cup of tea/pours glass of wine.
I never, ever shrug when I’m alone. I don’t even give a mental shrug, or shake myself to dispel black thoughts.

There's a certain type of English upper middle class novel set in the 70s and 80s where is always a cold roast chicken and salad in the fridge, and a chilled Chablis. When do they cook all those chickens? And what would they have done with them if those guests hadn't turned up unexpectedly? Also male guests in those books always go straight to the bar/drinks cabinet and pour themselves a Scotch.

Characters in books are often described as “lithe”.
I don’t recall ever hearing anyone use that word in real life.