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When I write I'm guilty of what people 'round these parts call Pseudo-Intellectualism.

There are a slew of words and phrases that I overuse to achieve this.

"Quite"
"Actually"
"Due to the fact"
"My own"
"In all"
Etc, etc... (I can't think of any more  :P)

Trying to sound classy and dramatic is a pretty fake way to communicate.
I'd like to make my words sound more natural and everyday.

I still love the gentleman icons and the romantic idea of aristocracy, horse driven carriages, and candle lit courtyards.

But I don't live there.

You know?

I make these mistakes all the time, at least while writing. 

"In fact"
"Actually"
"the reason is because" <-- just plain wrong.
"basically"

Strangely, I don't make these same mistakes while speaking.  Although my behaviour, in-person, is quite eccentric for other reasons.  :facepalm:

"The way I see it..."
"Well, you've got to take into account that..."
"That's true but... [refute entire premise of other person's statement]"

Also.

"...and whatnot."
"...and stuff."
"...And, uh, yeah, words."

My biggest offender is the word "well". Not as in, "I am feeling well," but as in, "Well, okay," or "Well, let's do this!" or something like that.

admittedly

"However..."

"But, anyways..." seems to plague almost every conversation I have.

although
of course
so, uh, yeah
um

"All encompassingly"

However.
Also (as a sentence opener, not in its proper adverby place)

awesome
static game journo talk.

"You see..."
"To get technical..."
"Im certain"
"Im 99% sure"

And world ending with -ly
Wonderful
Awesome
Incredible
Gorgeous

Most every complement

"Yeah, ..."

Awesome
Allegedly
Apparently

I rarely say 'epic', but that word needs to be wiped from existence.

I'm glad that I've managed to learn away from "awesome" and "epic", especially now that I know that "epic" doesn't actually mean the thing we use it for in the internet.

Anyway:
"I guess"
"It seems"
"as usual"
There are a ton more, but as usual I can't recall most of them.

I seem to like, oh idk. Like sometimes I like think I like use the word like to much. Like what the heck kind of purpose does it... like... serve? I'd like to know why I like to like.

hmm

starting with "man/okay/goddammit,"

lots of or somethings

the more commas u use the more u dum

"Git 'er done" is a phrase I really wish everyone would stop saying.

well

Making a short story with all these included as much as possible might be hilarious.

I don't use it but it's still funny: "One thing led to another..."

Like this, like that, like everything.
I need to stop using words like this.

"Looks like..."
"Like a..."
"Of a..."
"Fuck"
"Akin to..."
"Maybe"
"Possibly"
"Not quite, but close"


Big fan of Metaphors/Similes here. They're about as addictive to use as crack, and not nearly as easy a habit to kick.

"Heh", "hah", "oh cool", "lulz", "hahah", or any other variation of "this is how I pretend to be interested in what you're saying."

Along with "well alright then."

"Side note..."

I use actually far too often… and I have an ellipsis problem.

I think that people who overuse ellipses are patronizing me. I have no idea how to read the tone in my head.

embeded parentheses are cool (but best used sparingly (if at all (actually they're an eyesore I should stop doing (blame Tim Rogers))))

I had an ellipsis problem, but then when I tried to break it, it turned into a semicolon problem  :shrug2:

I over-use semi-colons and tend to have too many tangents (leading to lots of sets of brackets, sub-clauses and dashes).

Yeah, I'm in the overusing semicolons, nested parentheses, ellipses, etc camp... (probably something has something to do with programming...).

Maybe I overuse "--"s in my writing to put in short asides to illustrate a point, but it usually turns out well... I guess I'll try to tone it down a notch though.

oh, another I just noticed:

"Anyway."

Say hi to Anyhow, Anyway's sister.

anywho isn't a word, but i use it. i probably shouldn't. anywho.

"Actually"

That didn't have nearly enough tangents so I fixed it up a bit. But yeah, same problem here.

These are common filler words. If you really want to learn to stop using them (and about writing in general), I would recommend reading "Getting the Words Right" by Theodore A Rees Cheney. Its one of the great bibles of writing that I think everyone needs to own, even if they don't write creatively.

I agree with you 100% on "the reason is because". Just the redundancy of the phrase irritates me.

"Well"
"...as it were."

what would be a replacement for "actually"? i mean, i can't think of any other word that fulfills its role: it means that something is true despite what one might expect or think.

e.g. 'actually, peppermint tea is not a true tea'

i can't think of an alternative way to say 'peppermint tea is not a tea, despite what you might expect' except, of course, "despite what you might expect", which is worse than "actually".

in fact?

hmm -- that could work, although that sounds worse to me than actually. besides, sometimes what you're talking about *are not* facts

for instance:

"actually, ff4 is a better game than ff6"

vs

"in fact, ff4 is a better game than ff6"

the latter makes no sense, because you're not talking about facts, but evaluations

yeah i didn't think about opinions because most people state them as opinions

Most times it's superfluous.
You could just say: '(I think) ff4 is a better game than ff6.

I don't personally use this very often, but when other people do, it bugs me to no end.

• "Needless to say..."

That seriously has to be the most pointless, superfluous phrase we have in this language. I can't think of any instance in which using this may actually help you construct your sentence/prove your point (well, that is, except for in this post...).

As evidenced by the last sentence above, I, too, have problems with ellipses and parentheses. I've started moving away from parentheses but instead have been using the dreaded dash - It's horrible! - to make my statements.

I use ellipses, parens, and well, the words Anyway/Well way too much (like this).

Anyway.... :D

You could omit "actually" entirely, leaving the sentence as "Peppermint tea is not a true tea." You can trust the reader or listener to get that you're expressing an idea that goes against expectations. Adding "actually," "in fact," or something similar sounds condescending, since it implies that you don't trust them to get it.

As for expressing an opinion, I'd avoid using objective phrasing like "FF4 is better than FF6." Instead, how about, "I enjoyed FF4 more than FF6 because..."

I need to stop using "just". I also need to break up long sentences into shorter ones that are easier to digest!

Totally, I need to actually stop saying words like actually and totally. I totally forget how frequently I actually use them.

(1st post! No more lurking for me)

I overuse "which".

I also used had a bad habit of referring to characters impersonally with pronouns or with generic titles like "the man".

I do this.

EXAMPLE

NO_CONFIDENCE MAN> I THINK MAYBE, ER... YOU SHOULD...
SUPER_FIANCE            > WHAT?
NO_CONFIDENCE MAN> UHHH...
SUPER_FIANCE            > GET IT OUT. JUST TALK TO ME.