One word is ruining my book

[Lifenov86]

I’m reading the new cj Tudor book “serenity falls”. Really enjoying the story. My problem! No one walks anywhere they “pad”. It’s so jarring once you notice it

I was reading a book recently where all the characters "slurped" their drinks.
I hate eating noises, the book didn't get finished.

Urgh! Both those words are cringe worthy.
Once I notice any repetition it grates on me.

Oh.gosh, Sophie Kinsella characters are constantly rubbing their faces!

You would thinks editors would pick things like this up

I recently read A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute where everyone "ejaculates" instead of exclaims.

No idea if this was a common use of the word at the time but it just feels so out of place today 🤣

So bloody distracting when all you want to do is power through a good book!

It's actually a more modern usage. The original term was 'spaffed'.

It comes up frequently on here as being a hated verb, commonly used in modern writing. Women “biting their lips” was another jarring one.
Stephen Kings American swearing always grated with me.
Its annoying but not much you can do.

The Brontë sisters used this term! definitely old English 😅

Crying jags is the term that did it for me - I think it was Nora Roberts

I was reading a book where a long dead family of one of the major protagonists came back to life. It wasn’t a time lapse, it was just an absolute error by the author or ghost writer, who knows, but it ruined the series for me.
I had previous books so of course I had to check that I was correct 😂

Plus they also developed repetitive, jarring phrases .

I don’t mind it being used occasionally. For example if a character is walking barefoot, but this was every time someone walked across a room. Really annoying

God this has been going on for years. The characters in all the crap chick lit I read as a teenager would pad everywhere and it grated on me back then.

I’m reading a book where everyone smirks at each other. Smirk to me means sarcasm not humour.

I read a book recently where there was a character called Al and I could not stop reading it as A.I.

I keep seeing people "stepping foot" in places, instead of SETTING foot. It's everywhere, although quite a new thing. And I saw an "on accident" recently, too.

I follow a BookTuber who is driven mad by people letting out a breath they didn't know they were holding, and now I see that everywhere too :-)

The asteroid can't come soon enough, frankly.

This also bugs me. Smirk and smile is not the same.

Agree with you both on this, smirk has such snidey undertones and is absolutely not akin to good humour or smiling.

Grrrr

It must be because I was listening to Anne of Green Gables and they too ‘ejaculate’. When it happened a second time I said ‘ejaculate?’ And DH said ‘I’m glad you brought that up they’ve been ejaculating for a few chapters now.’

We dissolved in giggles I’m afraid.

Unless it’s a sexy smirk which also exists

When I read the thread title, I thought of the word "pad." Yes, very annoying.

I also don't like it when a man holds a woman's chin and looks into her eyes. Happens in movies, too. But I have never seen or experienced this in real life.

It's just weird, stop it please!

He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. So over used by so many.

The number of modern writers who use the words ‘grin’ or ‘grinned’ multiple times is similarly annoying. I don’t often see people grinning - smiling, yes, smiling broadly, yes, a ghost of a smile, yes. But grinning every single time? No.

And what about all the times the characters ‘raise an eyebrow’? I don’t think I know anyone who can successfully do this.

"pursed their lips"
"turned on their heels"
"grinned and placed his hands on her hips"
"scoffed" and I dont mean in eating terms

I listened to prince Harry's book spare on audio and he must have said "on the contrary" at least 20 times throughout the book.

I just don’t understand why it’s not picked up in waiting. For example instead of “pad” you can use walk, saunter, skip, tiptoe, crept.