I made a mid-year resolution on July 1 -- do you do those? -- I try -- to shake five or so words out of my vocabulary, or at least the constant rotation they seem to occupy.
For real, I overuse the following words too much, in both my writing and in conversation: big, favorite, probably, like, really, what? (as in wut????), and awesome.
Like Fair Finley is advised to not say like and just too much in the Wilfar books -- both words soften and undermine her intent -- I'm giving myself a hardcore pep talk on the words I go to too often.
Favorite might be the worst of the bunch for me. I find that so many things are my favorite that nothing is.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing -- favorite is positive, for sure, and I like to think it connotes how fully I engage with whatever I'm doing/enjoying (at least I try). But the fact is that I need to find a way to describe a top-level category in which the things I love, but which can't be classified as my very favorite, can exist.
If you have ideas, I'm open!
What's your word you overuse? Is there a good substitute? Or, in the end, do you dig your word too much to fully drop it?
Truth be told, you'll never see me totally drop favorite here at Wilfair HQ. It's my favorite word.
source: free dictionary
