Words favored by Stephen King

[FlakeNoir]

Hi Flakes!!!!

Hullo back...

 

[Ebdim9th]

Laying chili ... negative perspiration ... I may have heard one of these before reading Stephen, but I don't remember it and I always associate these phrases with him .... My grandmother always said 'treat instead of a treatment' and 'be useful as well as ornamental' and I've seen these make more recent appearances in his writing as well ....

 

[crannogman]

I read a review of a new book called "Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve" by Ben Blatt. It's a computer analysis of the words in the works of various authors (including the adverb usage of Stephen King, among others). Some interesting findings, such as the word "he" appearing over 1,900 times in "The Hobbit", but "she" is only used once. Elmore Leonard stopped using the word "suddenly" after 2001.

This got me thinking about some of the oddball words that Stephen King seems to favor. I know we've discussed his use of the term "arc sodiums" to describe street lights. I've also noticed he has a fondness for "apotheosis", a term that I really only hear King using any more. He also tends to describe creatures/monsters as "mewling". I wonder where he first read some of these words.

Oh, and it seems a fairly large number of his characters evacuate their bladders when frightened. Often they are "vaguely aware" of this happening--a phrase I've seen King using a lot in conjunction with other phrases.

I wonder if he's "vaguely aware" of these things while he's writing them?

Definitely apotheosis, which I suppose would usually be epitome in another writer's hands. Rereading Gerald's Game and just came across it. There's The Gunslinger, of course, and I swear I just saw it in IT, but I've read it in a few of his books, so yeah. Thanks, because I was looking for a post like this.

 

[Neesy]

Definitely apotheosis, which I suppose would usually be epitome in another writer's hands. Rereading Gerald's Game and just came across it. There's The Gunslinger, of course, and I swear I just saw it in IT, but I've read it in a few of his books, so yeah. Thanks, because I was looking for a post like this.

Just saw him speak recently in Toronto and after that I realize one of his fave words starts with F

Of course here on the board we are not supposed to use it (it's a 'family' board) but I like the fact that he pulls no punches in his books

Welcome to SKMB crannogman

 

[GNTLGNT]

Definitely apotheosis, which I suppose would usually be epitome in another writer's hands. Rereading Gerald's Game and just came across it. There's The Gunslinger, of course, and I swear I just saw it in IT, but I've read it in a few of his books, so yeah. Thanks, because I was looking for a post like this.

...good to see ya and welcome to the. Crew!!....

 

[crannogman]

...good to see ya and welcome to the. Crew!!....

Thanks!

 

[kingricefan]

Just saw him speak recently in Toronto and after that I realize one of his fave words starts with F

Of course here on the board we are not supposed to use it (it's a 'family' board) but I like the fact that he pulls no punches in his books

Welcome to SKMB crannogman

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Steve magnanimously tossed around that 'F' word at the Missoula event also.

 

[crannogman]

Okay... I knew I'd seen it elsewhere. He uses 'apotheosis' five times in Danse Macabre.

He uses it once in The Stand--"He was a man completely in control, and Larry suddenly knew this was his watershed moment, the apotheosis of his life."

I'm not going to sift every book he's ever writ, but I know I've seen it over and over again in his works. Anywho, I'd say that, yes, he likes that word.

I did see Brandon Sanderson use it in one of his books (one of the Stormlight Archives, I think), but it's not a word I've seen thrown around very often. In fact, the first time I noticed it so glaringly was in The Gunslinger. After that I seem to see it everywhere...

 

[crannogman]

Just saw him speak recently in Toronto and after that I realize one of his fave words starts with F

Of course here on the board we are not supposed to use it (it's a 'family' board) but I like the fact that he pulls no punches in his books

Welcome to SKMB crannogman

View attachment 23661

I've never gone myself, but I've watched a few youtube videos featuring him as the speaker. He def likes his F word

 

[Neesy]

I've never gone myself, but I've watched a few youtube videos featuring him as the speaker. He def likes his F word

He's a good speaker - he was there with his son Owen to promote their book Sleeping Beauties

 

[Maddie]

not a word, but theres a hilarious thread of conversation on his twitter a few months back, about a phrase of words he says do not ever use, so I used it for fun on his Birthday , its here ....

Stephen King on Twitter: "Writing a story or a novel? Great! Want a tip? NEVER use the phrase "for a long moment.""

 

[Owenk]

Cribbage, a game I'd never heard of til King brought it up, often makes its way into his works...

I learned to play cribbage (although we always referred to it as "crib") in my mother and father's pub when I was 9. Now some 45 year's on it is still my favourite card game.

 

[Ebdim9th]

Cribbage is a game I've never even seen for sale around here, maybe in a book store, for as long as those are still around....

 

[Owenk]

Cribbage is a game I've never even seen for sale around here, maybe in a book store, for as long as those are still around....

You don't need to buy the game as such. You just need a regular pack of playing cards and a board to score on. I just checked Amazon (the U.S. site as well as the U.K.) and there are loads of cribbage boards starting from as little as $9.

We even score on paper if we don't have a pegging board to hand.

 

[Ebdim9th]

Lol, sounds simple enough ....

 

[Wayoftheredpanda]

"ayuh" although that's probably just the Maine in him.