Eileen Charbonneau: Seven Deadly Words and Phrases.

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“I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.”

― Mark Twain

We are so fortunate to be speaking and writing in the English language, aren’t we?  It is so rich in vocabulary deposited on a tiny island by its ancient settlers and invaders.  Of course, England then went on an invading spree of its own to the four corners of Mother Earth, adding much more! 

Thanks to its two main streams of head-based (Latin) and emotion-based (Anglo-Saxon), we can be both bellicose and warlike, have women and ladies, females and damsels, girls and gals.  

Add a deposit of riches via two genius Bards, Shakespeare and Robert Burns.  We now have new words and phrases a like:  “accused,” “assassination,” “dwindle,” “rant,” “mimic” and “zany,” “the best-laid plans of mice and men” and “there is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.” And, heaven help us, “haggis.” 

 

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue.  

--William Shakespeare

Learn taciturnity and let that be your motto!--Robert Burnes

Our English has goulash (Hungary) galore (Gaelic)!  Perhaps even an embarrassment of riches? (thank you, John Ozell's translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses (1726)).

With all this richness and specificity you’d think we’d be more careful.  You’d be wrong.

Readers get stopped dead by words that mean nothing or are place-holders for “ummm.”  Honor our language!  Don’t use them!   Here are some of my deadliest...

1. So  This word is a verbal devise that has taken over from “Well…”  as a space holder. Please don’t start a sentence with “so”…. it means nothing!
2. Pretty  This overused adjective can now signify that one is even“pretty ugly.” It means…you guessed it, pretty much nothing.
3. Actually  This has come from stating a fact to mean a change of mind, as in “Waiter, actually, I’ll have the Merlot not the Pinot Noir .“(good choice, by the way!) But try practicing, “Waiter, change of plan…”, won't you?
4. Just, very, really, quite…JUST stop using these!  They are REALLY QUITE annoying!   VERY bad writer! You are weakening a strong language!  Take then out of the sentences above and read aloud.  Stronger, right?
5. Literally As in: “It’s literally hot as hell out there.” You mean figuratively, but don’t use either, I beg you!
6. Stand up   Leave out the up…how else does one stand?  Down of course, used only when you mean relax or withdraw.
7. Due to the fact that   Yikes, are you being paid per word??  Way to much congestion and your sentence hasn’t even stated yet!  “Due” alone is fine!
   I’m sure you have your own pet peeves.  Bring them forth, dear readers!  Join the effort to de-clutter our beautiful language! 
   
   
   
   

HIking Season

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Today - Wednesday - is my hiking day. Ten years ago, after my husband Will retired, we joined a local hiking club. In a recent radio interview, I talked about the enjoyment we both get from heading out each week to the Rocky Mountains, a couple of hours drive from our city of Calgary.

"When I'm there, all my cares vanish," I said. "We carpool, too, and socialize with an interesting group of people."

The broadcaster commented that mystery writers might imagine insidious actions that could happen on a hike. He asked if I'd ever included this in a novel. All I could think of was one scene in my first book. Afterward, I realized that hiking appears in all three of my novels.

Overlooking Arnica Lake, Banff National Park

The scene I recalled at the interview happened in Deadly Fall, book one of my murder mystery series. Insurance adjuster sleuth Paula Savard hikes the Mount Indefatigable Trail in nearby Kananaskis with three suspects in the case she's become involved after the death of her childhood friend. As Paula reaches the trail lookout, she starts to think the two men on the hike are plotting something sinister. During a moment of panic and paranoia, she fears one of them will push her off the cliff. 

Will and I hiked this trail before we joined the club and had bought proper hiking gear. I found it a treacherous climb to an awesome view of the turquoise Kananaskis Lakes. I'd like to try the trail again with good boots and poles, but it has been closed for fourteen years due to grizzly bear activity. 

Mount Indefatigable south peak

Ten Days in Summer, the Paula Savard sequel, doesn't include a hike. But a suspect is an avid hiker and mountain camper. I felt this interest showed seventy-year-old Florence's physical fitness and spunk. Florence is camping in the back country when a fire damages the building she lives in and kills the owner, who occupied the ground floor apartment. When the fire is deemed suspicious, she refuses to provide the name of her hiking companion, even though he could give her an alibi. Florence is, by nature, defensive and doesn't let anyone push her around. She's also more daring than I am, since I'd worry about bears if I tented in a mountain wilderness.  

Not much protection in these little tents

Hiking plays the largest role in my third novel, To Catch a Fox. The book is partly set at a fictional self-help retreat in southern California. While personal growth and empowerment are the New Dawn Retreat's primary goals, the body is also viewed as important. The retreat's co-leader, Sebastiano, leads two hikes a day in the hills that enclose the valley location. Hiking struck me as the ideal physical activity for this spiritual place. Climbing trails is non-competitive, accessible to anyone who's reasonably fit, and requires little equipment.    

Rummel Lake hike, Kananaskis

It makes sense for writers to use interests and hobbies in their stories. Whether it's chess, doll-collecting or hiking, this is the author's passion and a subject he or she knows details about without the need for research. But I also want to create a wide range of characters and there are many Calgarians who give zero thought to hiking. So it might be time for a novel without one single reference to my favoured activity. My next novel in the Paula mystery series will take place in winter, when most Rocky Mountain trails are covered in snow and have avalanche warnings. Hiking will be far from any character's mind. 

Unless someone ventures on a mountain trail and the situation turns treacherous and suspicious.  

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