Words to Use: Uncommon Word Variations for Reference

[LittleSoul]

Sometimes after so much writing most of us all know that cycle one can get into when you've simply exhausted all the variations of words you know for a particular verb or adjective. A common example is laughing and chuckling. It's hard to think of different words for all the different kinds of 'laughter' we have, and it's a very common action by characters especially those who are cheery or easily amused.

You can describe this laugh or chuckle, but you're still using the word laugh or chuckle in that description. There are a lot of words that we use frequently because they're part of actions that just happen to occur all the time for certain characters, but we don't necessarily know or remember all the variations that can widen our vocabulary to keep us out of those cycles of *He chuckles* *She chuckles* *He grins* *She smiles* *He laughs before it eases into a chuckle* etc, as a simple example. Most of you know what I'm talking about.

TLDR:

That's why I wanted to make a thread where we can post different uncommon words (and a brief description of what they mean or what their synonym is) which we can come back to and look at for some inspiration or ideas for varying the words in our stories and actions. I actually have a little text document on my computer called 'Words I Should Use' which gave me the idea for this. Here are mine. Some are more common than others, but not so common that absolutely everyone thinks of them all the time.

Thinking:
muses : to think about or say something carefully or thoroughly or thoughtfully: akin to wonder, marvel, ponder (ex:she muses)

Movement/Action:
cant : to set at an angle : akin to tilt, slant, shift, angle (ex:she cants her head)
bout : a short period of intense activity of a specified kind. : akin to outburst, fit, convulsion (ex: he had a bout of anger)
feigned : pretend to be affected by a feeling, state, or injury : akin to pretend, fake (ex: she feigned her illness)
chortle : to laugh because you are amused or pleased by something : akin to chuckle, giggle, laugh, titter, snicker, cackle (ex: he chortled softly at the jest)

Feeling:
disconcerting : to make (someone) upset or embarrassed : akin to unsettling, rattle, mortify, fluster (ex: the news about the criminal's identity was disconcerting to their friends)

Speaking:
banter : talk or exchange remarks in a good-humored teasing way : akin to quip, jest, wisecrack (ex: they always banter with one another )

Description/Adjective
terse : brief and direct in a way that may seem rude or unfriendly : akin to curt, concise, brief (ex: he spoke so tersely he made a bad impression)

I'll add more later.

Anyone have any others they can add?

[*Wiro]

Personally I'm fond of animal comparisons. Dehumanises my characters and avoids the very problem you're describing. That's a win-win in my book.

Smiling like a rodent is bound to get people thinking. That doesn't work as a substitute for a happy or warm smile though. For that I'd refer you to smiling as if bewitched, warm with the flames of the crackling oven (yadda yadda).

The problem with fancy synonyms is that they get old much faster than the plain versions. It's important not to let it distract from the story. Personally I don't care. I only ever use plain *smiles* when not describing it in detail adds a sense of creepiness.

"I'm so sad my husband died. *smiles*"

[Alladinsane]

http://www.thesaurus.com/

It has everything you need.
Synonyms are wonderful when used in a correct and poetic context.

[LittleSoul]

Personally I'm fond of animal comparisons. Dehumanises my characters and avoids the very problem you're describing. That's a win-win in my book.

Smiling like a rodent is bound to get people thinking. That doesn't work as a substitute for a happy or warm smile though. For that I'd refer you to smiling as if bewitched, warm with the flames of the crackling oven (yadda yadda).

The problem with fancy synonyms is that they get old much faster than the plain versions. It's important not to let it distract from the story. Personally I don't care. I only ever use plain *smiles* when not describing it in detail adds a sense of creepiness.

"I'm so sad my husband died. *smiles*"

That's a great idea especially if you are playing someone a little scary or wild looking. Smiling does add a sense of creepiness without details. I imagine an unblinking doll with a grin. Yuck.
It's also true, I think, that this kind of thing annoys the one writing it more than those reading it.

http://www.thesaurus.com/

It has everything you need.
Synonyms are wonderful when used in a correct and poetic context.

True, but isn't it only useful if you already have a word in mind to use to find the synonym?
What about words that are entirely different that you would have never heard before? It's kind of difficult to look up a word by definition in the dictionary.
I think I saw someone use the word bout once in the game which made me look it up, and I was like woah I've never even seen this be used before I had no idea it was like an outburst. Only then could I look up synonyms.

[Alladinsane]

You know I like to issue challenges, well here are some terms of endearment from Shakespearean times.

The first one that is used on one of my chars gets a cookie!

http://dictionary.reference.com/slidesh ... names#duck

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lambkin- Used lovingly to refer to a person who is exceptionally sweet, young and innocent, this is the ultimate warm and fuzzy pet name.

chuck-Meaning roughly “my love,” this nickname was applied to husbands in addition to wives, children and dear friends. It comes from the Middle English chuk, a word that approximates the sound of chicken clucking.

Bawcock -meaning “a fine fellow.”It comes to English directly from the French beau coc referring literally to “a handsome rooster.” [Be careful with this one]

Duck- meaning “dear” or “darling.”/The term duck sometimes takes on the diminutive suffix -y to form ducky.

ladybird -sweetheart. Within the next 100 years, ladybird took on the sense of “butterfly” and “ladybug,” the first of which is no longer in use, though the latter is still used today.

bully-affectionately referred to a good friend or fellow, or a sweetheart or darling. It was not until the late 1600s that the term bully took on the negative sense of “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.” This sense has survived the centuries, while the other, more positive senses have fallen into obscurity.

The largely obsolete term wag refers to a person given to mischievous humor, and in Shakespeare’s time it was often used by mothers to tenderly refer to their baby boys. In Henry IV, Falstaff uses wag several times while directly addressing Prince Henry. At one point Falstaff drunkenly asks: “But I prithee sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king?”

The term of endearment bud might sound like 1980s surfer slang, but Shakespeare was an early adopter of the sense of this word meaning “an immature or undeveloped person.” Bud comes from the Middle English budde, which literally means the bud or pod of a plant. Bud used as a shortening of buddy or brother has an entirely different etymology. That particular mode of address popped up in the 1850s as an American colloquialism and is unrelated to the bud first used by Shakespeare.

While the term mouse has existed in English since the time of Old English, between the 16th and 19th centuries, people sometimes used mouse as a term of endearment applied to women. In Hamlet, the troubled Prince of Denmark tells his mother in reference to the king, his uncle, “Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed; / Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse...” A similar sense of mouse arose as American slang referring to a young woman in the early 1900s and is still used today

[LittleSoul]

Now that is a challenge! It'd take one eccentric character to pull these off. I love it, thank you!

[Alladinsane]

I already have a char that uses one of those words as a term of endearment, but I can't say too much without outing myself.

Synonyms are not the only things on that page, but your point is well taken.

You were so prescient as to start the conversation and I was trying to provide a tool, but was mistaken when I stated that it has 'everything' you might need. I have found some colloquial expressions on it, but you know how slang and vernacular is always in a constant state of change.

Personally I also want to thank you for startiing this conversation, I hope a few people take my challenge.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

*He gives a meaningful and expectant gaze to computerartist*

[computaertist]

*He gives a meaningful and expectant gaze to computerartist*

<.< >.>
Me?

The last challenge I took up was toward the good cause of trying to shift the tone of the forum to a more positive one.

I have no problem with the current state of in game vernacular and role play because I don't feel like participating in a writing contest. I just want to play for fun and write whatever comes most naturally given the character and circumstances.

Also, now that you've called me out, I might even have to avoid using those words in character until someone else uses them first

[Marian]

Yeah, as much as I love the English language and learning all kinds of old-timey and obscure words, I've never been one for including them in the RP just for their own sake. I've seen people get very, very fancy with their emotes and that's nice and all, but when the point is to communicate your character's actions to others as clearly and directly as possible I prefer to be...well, as clear and direct as possible.

[LittleSoul]

It's not about making it more fancy or complicated or changing the game's vernacular. It's about easy access to other options for those of us that would like to know some alternatives for the words which we often use over and over again. Or new words altogether! I'd rather have a few clicks and scrolls here for some ideas or reminders than wondering 'what's that cool word I used forever ago that would fit so perfectly here but I can't remember?', or pouring over a dictionary/thesaurus just for one post - because most people won't do that.

In any case I thought it might be useful to somebody (not everybody) myself included so I'll be posting interesting uncommon words I'd like to use again here even if no one else does. Someone might use it.

I already have a char that uses one of those words as a term of endearment, but I can't say too much without outing myself.

Actually I already have a character in mind, but I don't think it's the one who uses one of those terms.

Personally I also want to thank you for startiing this conversation, I hope a few people take my challenge.

Thanks for the appreciation! And for your awesome post. I will be attempting your challenge once I choose a character it fits with.
Lambkin is too adorable. So cute it's almost sickening.