Phrases that annoy/puzzle you? Or What makes me grit my teeth

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Some conversation in another thread discovered that Bette is worried by the expression keep your "eyes peeled"' Sharon wonders about heads that swivel and Sally wants to know how on earth eyes can twinkle. Are there any phrases you see regularly in books that annoy you or make you feel uncomfortable?

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I agree about "sparkling eyes" and "twinkling eyes" - I've often wondered what they'd look like;) Another one - the eyes "shot sparks" of rage! lol Really??

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

There are so many when you think about it - "tears her hair out"! Ouch...

[Sharon]

Eyes snapping open

[B the BookAddict]

Brenda, yes, that one makes my scalp twitch:)

I like 'by the seat of your pants', it always makes me see someone sailing thru the air with their knickers flapping, lol.

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

That's a great visual Bette:)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

B the BookAddict wrote: "Brenda, yes, that one makes my scalp twitch:)

I like 'by the seat of your pants', it always makes me see someone sailing thru the air with their knickers flapping, lol."

Hahahaha!!!!

[Anna]

Brenda wrote: "I agree about "sparkling eyes" and "twinkling eyes" - I've often wondered what they'd look like;) Another one - the eyes "shot sparks" of rage! lol Really??"

Oh I've seen them! Quite special! Twinkling eyes, that is, not shooting sparks.

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

I read one that had eyes sparking just yesterday. It sounds very dangerous

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Haha!!!

[Marianne]

Phrynne wrote: "I read one that had eyes sparking just yesterday. It sounds very dangerous"

are you sure they weren't sparkling and you didn't see the L?

[B the BookAddict]

lol:)

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

With the standard of editing being what it is today maybe the L just wasn't there:)
On that topic the book I am currently reading on Kindle keeps running out of capital letters. Whole paragraphs keep occurring with no capitals at all. It is disconcerting.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

That's poor formatting isn't it Phrynne!!!

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Very!

[K]

"Mound" for a woman's vagina and "manhood" and the like for a man's penis in romance books. For goodness sake, just call them what they are! It drives me up the wall.

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Kiera wrote: ""Mound" for a woman's vagina and "manhood" and the like for a man's penis in romance books. For goodness sake, just call them what they are! It drives me up the wall."

There are probably more euphemisms used in that genre than in all the others put together:)

[Sharon]

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland has a few interesting ones ;)

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

I'll bet it does:)

[Sharon]

Just realised I'd never added it to my shelf LOL - Problem fixed :D

[Laura]

Ending a sentence with the word "mind". Kinda like shortened down version of "mind you" which doesn't irk me but "mind" by itself does! lolol

[Marianne]

I book I just finished refers to a woman's "button". Circa 1928.

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Just heard about someone whose jaw was unhinged in shock and another whose eyebrows hit the ceiling.

[Susan]

Laura wrote: "Ending a sentence with the word "mind". Kinda like shortened down version of "mind you" which doesn't irk me but "mind" by itself does!"

Some people use that term in casual conversation. I'm trying to place it — northern England perhaps?

[Susan]

Marianne wrote: "I book I just finished refers to a woman's "button". Circa 1928."

That was probably very racy back then! [Clutches pearls]

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Phrynne wrote: "Just heard about someone whose jaw was unhinged in shock and another whose eyebrows hit the ceiling."

LOLOL!!!!!!!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Susan wrote: "Marianne wrote: "I book I just finished refers to a woman's "button". Circa 1928."

That was probably very racy back then! [Clutches pearls]"

Haha!

[K]

Laura wrote: "Ending a sentence with the word "mind". Kinda like shortened down version of "mind you" which doesn't irk me but "mind" by itself does! lolol"

That's very Welsh. I often see that in UK novels. I like it actually- but then I pretty much love most things UK related. Lol.

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

When my children were teenagers the word added to EVERY sentence was 'but'. As in "School was so boring today but." I always asked them "But what?" and eventually they stopped.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Yes that's a very annoying addition! Also the use of "like" anywhere and everywhere in a sentence!

[Sally906]

Phrynne wrote: "Just heard about someone whose jaw was unhinged in shock and another whose eyebrows hit the ceiling."

That is so painful when your eyebrows hit the ceiling. LOL!

[Sally906]

Phrynne wrote: "When my children were teenagers the word added to EVERY sentence was 'but'. As in "School was so boring today but." I always asked them "But what?" and eventually they stopped."

oh I loathed - but Seems to have died away now - but what is so popular now - and I really dislike is people finishing off a conversation with "...have a good one..."

It really, really annoys me - I almost scream at the person who says it HAVE A GOOD WHAT!!?

Did I say it really, really annoys me :)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Haha!

[PattyMacDotComma]

"So" . . . it seems that every answer to questions in interviews and such begins with SO.

I have a feeling it has replaced "Well", which we often preface remarks with to indicate we're thinking about our answer. A kind of stalling tactic.

When the sentence starts with "So", it seems it should be following on from something said earlier. Anyway, it's become weird to me now.

[B the BookAddict]

Patty, Yes Yes Yes Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. It really irritates me that so many people start a sentence with the word 'So'. You hear it on tv in interviews and conversations. Not only is it grammatically incorrect, it leaves me wondering 'did I miss something they said earlier'.

[Leonie]

B the BookAddict wrote: "Patty, Yes Yes Yes Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. It really irritates me that so many people start a sentence with the word 'So'. You hear it on tv in interviews and conversations. Not only is..."

There was a fad for 'active listening' - in the nineties I think it was - which encouraged people (upon whom the active listening courses were inflicted) to use the word 'so' at the beginning of a sentence to demonstrate how enthusiastically you were listening to the other person.

eg. "So, you really struggled with that person's attitude?"

[Sally906]

courses have a lot to answer to!!!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

B the BookAddict wrote: "Patty, Yes Yes Yes Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. It really irritates me that so many people start a sentence with the word 'So'. You hear it on tv in interviews and conversations. Not only is..."

I've noticed (and been annoyed by) it in blogs too!!!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Leonie wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "Patty, Yes Yes Yes Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. It really irritates me that so many people start a sentence with the word 'So'. You hear it on tv in interviews and c..."

That's a question which feels better - but when it's a statement - "So I was going to read this book..." No!

[Leonie]

Brenda wrote: "Leonie wrote: "B the BookAddict wrote: "Patty, Yes Yes Yes Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. It really irritates me that so many people start a sentence with the word 'So'. You hear it on tv in i..."

I feel your pain ;)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

lol!

[B the BookAddict]

Leonie, So I know you just have to be joking about that, lol:) They encouraged people to use it? omg, I am so behind the times, (shaking my head).

[B the BookAddict]

You know, when I complain about stuff like this, I have a friend who says "yes, but B, remember that language is always evolving". Somehow that just makes me even more annoyed - I don't have to like how it's evolving!

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Exactly Bette. Some of the evolution is good, some of it is just awful!

[Sally906]

Some days I feel that language is devolving - I saw a review once where the person complained the author used 'big words' - it was chick lit for goodness sake!!!

Are authors now suppose to dumb down the words they use?

I love discovering new words - and one great aspect of using an eBook is being able to press my finger on the word and the dictionary tells me what the meaning is.

Note: this doesn't work for physical books! You can hold that finger on the page as long as you like - no definition is going to pop up on the page!!!

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Sounds like some antics semantics goin' on in this thread :)

[PattyMacDotComma]

I remember being told not to use a big word when a small one would do, but sometimes a humongous word is just right, too. :)

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Humongous is a pretty big word Patty., :)

[PattyMacDotComma]

Ginormous!

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

Gargantuan even.