Don't Use That Word With Me!

Not a rant, exactly, but there are some words I detest. Even as a writer. Strange, right? But it's like even though I'm a cat lover, I think hairless cats are ugly. I would never harm them, but I'd never get one as a pet. Same with these words. I'd never use them because we aren't friends.


1.  'drug' vs. 'dragged.'  I don't know, it simply sounds uncouth when I hear or read something like, "I drug the truth out of him" vs. "I dragged the truth out of him." Are you with me on this? It just sounds incorrect and ignorant.

2.  'bemused.' Webster's dictionary says it means "confused, or mildly amused." Well, which is it? Sometimes I can't tell if a character is amused or confused by the context. Don't tell me "she was bemused by his outburst" because that doesn't clarify the meaning. She could be confused by his outburst, as in he had no reason for such emotion, or she could be amused, because he had no reason. Which is it??? Pick a better word.

3. 'didactic' which in case you didn't know, means, according to Webster, "Instructive, or inclined to teach or lecture others too much." No one except academics and snobby writers use that word. Had a classmate who used it all the time to impress the prof. Hint: he wasn't impressed, and neither were we.

4.  Okay, not a word, but more of a colloquial saying. "I had went shopping." Sorry, that's just wrong. "I had gone shopping." Or, better, "I went shopping." Get rid of both 'had' and 'went.' And stop making me cringe.

5. The 'n' word. It seems to me, that if a word is a slur against a whole community of people, the 'cultural appropriation' of that word by the said affected community is NOT the thing to do. I hear POC calling each other that name, and I while I know it can be meant as a greeting, it's also derogatory. It's akin to calling a woman 'bitch' in a song, or women calling another woman a bitch. It can mean that she's badass (so say that!) but it also can mean that she's a terrible person, it's meant to put her down, the same way slave owners used the 'n' word. Both words (and a few others I won't get into here) should be eradicated from vocabulary altogether. Let's not glorify them, okay?

I think maybe I'll start a list of words I strongly dislike and see where it goes. 

Until then,

Char