fajrdrako: (Default)
[personal profile] fajrdrako


Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule. - Stephen King

Who'd have guessed Stephen King and I would agree on this?

Date: 2009-03-11 11:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kikibug13.livejournal.com
Heh, interestingly, the times I've had to hunt down a word in a thesaurus, the results have been the right word. But! I am an exception. And in the just-over-two years that I've been writing in English, I've done it about three times total. Just my brain has blanked out... I know that there's a synonym with the right shading, I know I know it, but I can't come up with it on my own! When I see the list of synonyms in the thesaurus, I can say, yeah, this is the one I want.

Ahem. /dorking. Generally, yeah.

Date: 2009-03-11 12:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bunsen-h.livejournal.com
That's exactly what I use a thesaurus for. I know that I know a better word with the right shading, I just can't bring it to mind at that moment. Choosing a word one doesn't know from a thesaurus is almost always a bad idea, yes.

Date: 2009-03-11 12:38 pm (UTC)
sraun: portrait (Default)
From: [personal profile] sraun
I do the same thing - and I find I'm doing more of it as I'm getting older. It's not that I'm looking a different synonym, it's that I'm looking for a specific synonym that I can't bring to mind. I think this is the curse of a huge vocabulary and an aging brain. :-(

Date: 2009-03-11 02:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
the curse of a huge vocabulary and an aging brain. :-(

Oh my goodness yes. Happens all the time now.

My friend Beulah says vitamin B3 (Niacinimide) taken 250 mg at a time three times a day will cure the problem.

Date: 2009-03-12 04:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auriaephiala.livejournal.com
Hmmmm ... I should try that. This winter I've been taking a Vitamin D tablet every morning and I've found it did make me feel better.

Date: 2009-03-12 12:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I've started taking B3, mostly for the hope of getting some more energy. Let's hope it works.

Date: 2009-03-11 02:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I find the best strategy, if I can't think of a word, is to leave a blank and come back to it. Or rephrase what I was saying.

Date: 2009-03-11 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mommimus-prime.livejournal.com
Before I resort to the thesaurus, I ask my hubby and by saying what I am looking for out loud, it usually brings the right word or phrase to mind. Or since he's a human thesaurus, he usually has the right word for me. :P

Date: 2009-03-11 07:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Yes, asking out loud is the best strategy of all!

Date: 2009-03-11 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Thesauruses definitely have good words; I just don't like using them if I can help it. I think dictionaries are worth their weight in gold, but I've never had much use for a thesaurus.

Date: 2009-03-11 02:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angelfireeast.livejournal.com
I disagree because when I hunt a word in the thesaurus nine times out of ten it's because I can't spell the word I need so I'm looking for it or a better one.

Date: 2009-03-11 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Hee - spelling is a whole other terrible issue!

Date: 2009-03-11 02:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seanchaidh.livejournal.com
I find a thesaurus useful if I find myself using one word too often in a paper. Of course, looking up the actual meaning in a dictionary, too, is important, because not all synonyms were created equal.

Date: 2009-03-11 02:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
And sometimes one word is the right word, and it's best to use it rather than an approximation or circumlocution.

Date: 2009-03-11 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] seanchaidh.livejournal.com
Not always. I've been criticized for that before. :(

Date: 2009-03-11 02:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
The people criticizing you might be wrong! Of course, if they're giving you marks, it's best to do it their way, wrong or not.

Date: 2009-03-12 02:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mmegaera.livejournal.com
Odd. I find my thesaurus vital on the rare occasions I use it. I hate it when I know there's a Right Word for my need, and I can't remember it.

Date: 2009-03-12 03:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
A thesaurus just isn't my thing.

Date: 2009-03-12 04:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] auriaephiala.livejournal.com
Like [livejournal.com profile] bunsen_h or [livejournal.com profile] sraun, I use a thesaurus when there's a word on the tip of my tongue that I know would be perfect, but I can't quite remember it. Waiting for a few minutes usually accomplishes the same thing.

I also occasionally use OpenOffice's thesaurus when I've used one word too often and need a synonym. In that case, though, I rarely find a suitable word and end up rephrasing my paragraph instead.

Date: 2009-03-12 12:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
I didn't even know OpenOffice had a thesaurus! It's a good thing to know, even if I probably won't use it.

Date: 2009-03-12 02:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bunsen-h.livejournal.com
I sometimes use a thesaurus, and a rhyming dictionary, when I'm writing a song parody, and trying to find a good fit for meaning, meter, assonance, etc. I wouldn't use a word that I wasn't thoroughly familiar with, but the provided lists of words help to show me my options when I'm trying to meet multiple constraints.

Date: 2009-03-12 11:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
Yeah, I can imagine that would be useful. The requirements of regular fiction are rather different.

Profile

fajrdrako: (Default)
fajrdrako

October 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
151617181920 21
22 232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 04:45 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios