Buzzwords, Use Them or Avoid Them?

Five_Inch_Heels

Unexpected
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Nov 28, 2015
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Remarkable.

Amazing.

Fantastic.

Incredible.

They, and many more like them have a wide range of legitimate uses, but when presented as buzz words, do you see them as enhancements or annoyances?



'Discover 22 astonishing facts about (name irrelevant), the talented actress who rose to fame and captured hearts around the world. Learn more about her remarkable career and personal life in this captivating article.'


I'd prefer this:

'Discover 22 facts about (name irrelevant), the talented actress who rose to fame and captured hearts around the world. Learn more about her career and personal life in this article.'
 
They can be filler words, and therefore often unnecessary, but they're fine in dialogue, because people really do talk that way, and also in first person narrative if they accurately capture the voice of the particular narrator.
 
Depends on what you're writing and in what style. If you're doing a parody of pulp writing? Is Stan Lee your narrator?

--Annie
 
I'd avoid them, unless they're the words or thoughts of a character. Otherwise you're telling the reader what they should be thinking. Most readers prefer to form their own opinions.
 
I would add "insane" to the list. I'll stop reading when I see superlatives used to describe something that's interesting but not to the extent that the superlative indicates. They come out of social media and chat rooms and are used by people trying to impress the original author of the post. I also would never use them unless I was writing dialogue for some college freshman.
 
Please confine them to washing powder commercials, talking of which, I'd like to collect some of the bs factoids spewed out by the cosmetics industry
" rich in pure hyaluronic acid and hypoallergenic retinal balms that resist the harmful effects of free radicals and nourishes healthier vibrant skin, from world leading clinics in Switzerland "
 
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