Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Of Alternate Words and Blood

Hello everybody!

Well, probably not THAT many, but, you know...

How many of you faint or get nauseous at the sight of blood? Anyone who's read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer know that a certain Bella Swan swoons at the smell and sight of blood. How romantic.

I, on the other hand, am quite different than Bella on that point. I am not stirred by blood, especcially when in miniscule quantities. But, when it does come to globs and palm-fulls of it, it is enough to make my stomach do backflips.

On my bus home today, a little boy by the name of Bradley had a bloody nose. Terrible, too. It came out so fast, me and Michael (Bradley's brother) exhausted alot of paper towel on his nose. It was dripping down his shirt and in his mouth and everything, so he panicked and started bawling something terrible. Which made his nose bleed faster. Finally, we had to stop back at the school and he and his brother and sister went in with Mr. G (our fill-in principal) to get Mrs. M. (secretary) to fix him up. She always does a good job.

So, what I'm getting at, is, well, nothing, really, just informing you on my incrdibly boring day which included itching a bleeding kid's nose, making about seven stupid sketches on Geometer's Sketchpad in addition to the three good sketches that I had to hand in, and watching Hairspray until I almost sweat 60's songs (and believe me, there was plenty areason to sweat today).

Also, alternate words. There are several words that are exhausted too easily in today's writing. One of those words is 'said'. It is a good word when used moderately and with adverbs tacked on the end, but otherwise, it sorta, well, is lame.

I brainstormed all the alternate words for 'said' that I could think of.

  • exclaimed
  • whispered
  • told
  • mumbled
  • yelled
  • shouted
  • muttered
  • answered
  • replied
  • giggled
  • chortled
  • chuckled
  • uttered
  • spoke (okay, so this one is quite lame, but, you get the picture)
  • pronounced
  • announced (hey, that rhymes!)
  • stated
  • conveyed
  • asserted
  • declared
  • remarked
  • commented
  • communicated
  • indicated
  • stuttered
  • growled
  • barked
  • argued
  • roared
  • screamed
  • shrieked
  • squeaked
  • squealed
  • grunted
  • agreed
  • mimicked
  • protested
  • instructed
  • gasped
  • responded
  • demanded
  • cried
  • called
  • implied
  • admitted
  • yawned

Well? How's that for a list, eh?(Can't you tell I'm Canadian?) So, the next time you think about using the word said, see if there's something better to use. I encourage you to copy and paste this list, or jot it down somewhere, as it's quite helpful, to me, at least.

example:

"You can't take her!" Jocelyn shrieked. "She's my child and you don't have the right to take her!"

Well, I hope you've learned alot about bloody noses (pinch at the soft part and DON'T BLOW!) and alternate words. Maybe next post I'll step it up and you'll actually learn something useful.

Blessings, (hope none of you get a bloody nose)

emma eldon

No comments:

The Love Chapter

"If I speak in tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."



- 1 Corinthians 13 1-3, Study Bible, NRSV