Words to use or not to use...

[Guest]

I keep a word list for poetry and writing in general. For a word to be included on the list I might've liked how the word sounded or how someone used it. Perhaps I saw the word used in a poem, a song, a book or someone could've said it. If I like it then I will put it on my list for poems.

This morning I went over the list and noticed words I've included in my poetry and mainly ones I don't use like bliss, joy, etc, etc… I have no reason why I don't have a use for those particular words and frankly when I see words like bliss or joy used in other's works I might rudely, quietly snicker to myself

Just curious about which words you all don't use in poetry for whatever reason you may have.


neo

 

[Icingsugar]

Just curious about which words you all don't use in poetry for whatever reason you may have.

I don't mind a little bliss or joy myself. If the text calls for it, then why the hell not?

However, I try my very best to keep my writing from becoming too verbal. English is not my native tougne, and sometimes I think that is almost an advantage.

Whenever I start writing words and phrases that are a bit too high strung and complicated to really make sense to me unless I rack my brains and concentrate, I tend to promply delete and start over, finding a way of saying what I want to say in a simpler way.

And when I feel that I need a dictionary to write, that's when I know that I'm in the deepest of shit and needs to start over.

 

[Guest]

point taken... I get lost in verbosity because I have a word fetish C'mon... with a words like cornnucopia how can I not?

Seriously though ... no words you dislike? Ones that you refuse to include in your poetry?



neo

 

[The_Fool]

Call me a whore, but I will do anything.....

With Words...

Okay, it was a poor attention getter, just trying to get Angeline to snort the Merlot, Chardonnay, Gin or Moonshine.


I have no qualms about using any word if it fits the context, the thought, the rhythm. I try to use more basic language rather than highbrow for various reasons, but mostly because I don't know what most of them mean. Run it through the machine and shoot for 6th grade level. Perfect.

I realize the direction not using bliss, joy, nice, good, etc.However you miss out on some absolutely wonderful opportunities for sarcasm and misdirection. Not that I would ever indulge in that sentiment...

Okay, I would, if I can be sublime and tactful. Or was that submissive and tactile? No submissive and tactile were in reference to Disposa Girl...

Anyway.

Foolish

 

[Icingsugar]

point taken... I get lost in verbosity because I have a word fetish C'mon... with a words like cornnucopia how can I not?

Seriously though ... no words you dislike? Ones that you refuse to include in your poetry?

Now that I know of it, I really hate cornnucopia.

There are probably words that can make me cringe, but sice I don't dwell on them, I can't for the life of me recite which ones that is.

 

[WickedEve]

I will use any and all words. No word is safe from me. lol No, I don't like a poem laden with bliss and joy, but there is a time a place for all words. A poem can be wonderful with bliss and joy if the poem is wonderful to start with. (I'm thinking of a poem about a gal named Joy and her pet turtle, Bliss. Hey, it could work.)

 

[Guest]

I will use any and all words. No word is safe from me. lol No, I don't like a poem laden with bliss and joy, but there is a time a place for all words. A poem can be wonderful with bliss and joy if the poem is wonderful to start with. (I'm thinking of a poem about a gal named Joy and her pet turtle, Bliss. Hey, it could work.)

WE—

Bliss and joy were examples. I hold no misgivings of either word.



neo

 

[Angeline]

Well, Neo as you may recall I occasionally use the title "Word Slut" with my AV because I will use (and be used by) any word if it works in what I'm writing.

That's really the key. If I think it works in the context of what I'm writing, I go for it. (I just used "deconstructed" cause I like the way it sounds, and I'm gonna use "eschewed" soon cause it's preying on my mind, lol).

But you're right, some words sound so hackneyed that you can almost never find a good way to use them. And if you do use them and Eve finds out, she comes after you with a cattle prod (see my feedback thread for details ).

And following Eve's model, I'm gonna write a poem about finding joy in a pedicure at the Bliss Spa in NYC.

 

[WickedEve]

WE—

Bliss and joy were examples. I hold no misgivings of either word.



neo

Yes, I know they were examples. Bliss and joy to you. lol

 

[Maria2394]

blisfully, joyfully, barely awake

Good Morning

adverbs!!!!!

I have had it drilled into me since the first creative writing class I ever took:

"adverbs are the crutches of crippled vocabularies"

( for those people, and I am sure there are some, who do not know what an adverb is... they usually end in
-ly, but not always. They are sneaky little bugs, and can contaminate otherwise skillful writing with lazy, banal, boring substitutes for real imagery
ie;She was very sexy
he totally rocked my world

okay, maybe the writer is too spent to think of a better word in the latter example, so there are acceptable excuses
but very, completely, absolutely
totally, truly, bites my ass, so does really, I swear, it honestly does...Im going back to bed <giggles>


maybe that isn't always true, but I try to avoid them unless I can find no other suitable word, and I'm with WE on the bliss and joy thangie..nothing makes a poem suck worse than tons of bliss and joy

Bliss and Joy were Siamese twins
one was a girl,the other a boy
they lived in a spa
and Bliss wore a bra
and all they ate was bok choy

 

[Maria2394]

Well, Neo as you may recall I occasionally use the title "Word Slut" with my AV because I will use (and be used by) any word if it works in what I'm writing.

That's really the key. If I think it works in the context of what I'm writing, I go for it. (I just used "deconstructed" cause I like the way it sounds, and I'm gonna use "eschewed" soon cause it's preying on my mind, lol).

But you're right, some words sound so hackneyed that you can almost never find a good way to use them. And if you do use them and Eve finds out, she comes after you with a cattle prod (see my feedback thread for details ).

And following Eve's model, I'm gonna write a poem about finding joy in a pedicure at the Bliss Spa in NYC.

okay Ange, I was closing and noticed that you used the word hackneyed
I can say with all certainty that I have never used that word, and this is probably the only time I ever will in my entire life
maybe hackneyed, along with bliss and joy, could be stuffed into a cornucopia and happily set on fire!!! <EG>

 

[Angeline]

Ah well hackneyed is a great word in the right context, as most words are. Some people like to deconstruct language, but I eschew that, and just use what I want when I like the sound. Besides for me a big part of the fun in writing is finding the most precise word to describe what I want.

And I use em when I talk, too. Always have. My daddy played dictionary games with us when I was very young, where he'd pick the weirdest word he could find and make us try to guess the meaning. People have always accused me of putting on airs with language, but I just talk this way, lol. Really.

 

[Maria2394]

Y is not a vowel

My mom played a similar game with me, only it was my "job" to find a word she didn't know. She was the most intelligent person I have ever known ( in any lifetime

Well, one day I got her with syzygy. We stopped playing the game and she taught me Canasta and I never beat her at that

 

[weed]

There are no bad words

only words used badly

I can be repetitive

for this I edit gladly.

Other than that

if the word flows

(at least in my head)

then into the poem it goes.

 

[Angeline]

There are no bad words

only words used badly

I can be repetitive

for this I edit gladly.

Other than that

if the word flows

(at least in my head)

then into the poem it goes.

This is the basis for a discussion I have had with my kids so many times that (I blush to admit) their eyes roll back when I start. But so true, and for far more than writing.

 

[weed]

This is the basis for a discussion I have had with my kids so many times that (I blush to admit) their eyes roll back when I start. But so true, and for far more than writing.

Alas, sometimes with kids you just have to be repetitive.