"You were in my dream. You were driving circles around me."

[greygirlbeast]

Well, yesterday failed to measure up to the poopiness of its promise, though it was hardly conducive to the sort of work I'm supposed to be doing. You know...writing? Still, the anger subsided, and the day got better as it went on - a little better - and I have learned there's at least one person who thinks "awesome" is as overused (and

Comments

[meddevi]

I confess, I have found myself using "awesome" way too much in the last year. Closely behind that is "epic" (damn steampunks). I am on the search for new words to express that same sentiment. Suggestions?

[greygirlbeast]

I am on the search for new words to express that same sentiment. Suggestions?

I have no problem with either awesome or epic when used properly. And the thing with both is simply grotesque overuse (and the eighties flashbacks. Anyway, if a thing isn't truly epic, just say tremendous or overwhelming or...well, there are lots of synonyms. See a good thesaurus.

[meddevi]

hmmm, well, definitely using them properly (and not of the 80's, unless doing it ironically, like I call my car "Cahr" in homage to RI)....just need to expand...have had some incredible things happen to me in the last year (and even the last week) that fall neatly under both awesome and epic...but yeah, I should find a thesaurus and get my brain on it.

[greygirlbeast]

I should find a thesaurus and get my brain on it.

If nothing else, there's Thesaurus.com.

[edwarddain]

I must admit that that is one my favorite sentences as well.

D.

[greygirlbeast]

I must admit that that is one my favorite sentences as well.

It's just amazing.

[pisceanblue]

the greatest thing since sliced halva
Wouldn't dream of it, Aunt Beast, but what about sliced halva with hashish?
(It's bow-tie that one of the best is being represented by one of the best.)

What I love about that particular opening line is the layers within it, the evocation of several different moods concurrently.

[greygirlbeast]

but what about sliced halva with hashish?

See, that would be awesome, as in it would inspire awe.

[slothman]

That is an excellent sentence, but it also reflects on our changing times: a lot of televisions these days react to a dead channel by putting up a field of bright blue, instead of showing you the static.

[greygirlbeast]

Actually, Gibson writes about that in the audiobook (or talks about it) edition, as part of explaining how sf can't be predictive.

[slothman]

I think the technological anachronisms are something to be savored, seeing how far we’ve come since the time the book was written. I remember reading Second Stage Lensmen when I was young, and being bemused by a passage where Kimball Kinnison uses his new upgraded powers of the mind to cause a computer to perform some mathematical operation (just as a test), and describes the computer as puzzled by this. I puzzled over this for a little while, then flipped to the copyright page on the book and saw that it antedated any computer I’d ever heard of, and I realized that “computer” used to be a job! And I suddenly understood why people would talk about an “electronic computer” or “digital computer”, since I had previously thought the adjective redundant.

[trvolk]

"[A] hardcopy Roget's" is so much greater a tool than for finding words of similar meaning, but I am probably not telling you anything new there.

I dropped using 'awesome' altogether several years ago, even when the context absolutely begged its use. That leaves a hole in my vocabulary, but I would rather avoid altogether the smell now attached to it.

[greygirlbeast]

That leaves a hole in my vocabulary, but I would rather avoid altogether the smell now attached to it.

I'm trying hard to reserve it only for one meaning, A thing which inspires awe.