On my personalized iGoogle page there is a section of quotes for the day where I found this:
Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
This quote comes from Stephen King and I might agree with him if it weren’t for two things. The older I get the less I believe in absolutes such as this never is, this always happens. Never do this that or the other. There are always exceptions–especially since the older I get the less likely it is that I remember which exact word I want to use. Sometimes I need the jolt of looking something up to remember not to use the word obfuscate when I mean obdurate (or maybe to remind me that I could say “confuse” or “hard-headed” instead).
And the idea of turning folks away from using reference books to enhance their writing just doesn’t seem right to me. As always, you are free to make up your own mind.
Maybe Stephen King has a better vocabulary than me. Or maybe he doesn’t mind using the same word over and over.
Personally, I’d be lost without a thesaurus.
Same here, Bettye. And perhaps this explains why some folks call King repetitive (especially my hubby)–he’s too lazy to look anything up. He he. Seriously, though if you need a word, go find it, wherever it is.