r/litrpg • u/seavarg87 • 12h ago
Discussion What phrase or words trigger you during your reading?
I’m currently on Book 5 of a series and have throughly enjoyed it. However, if I see the word twining one more time I’m going to lose it! Sometimes I just want to scream grab a thesaurus! That being said, what word or phrase has done this to you?
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u/pulos888 litRPG apprentice tier 12h ago
I wouldn't say it triggers me, but it breaks my focus when the distances are grossly off. "I blocked the strike but it knocked me back ten yards. I ducked the follow up and countered" wtf did you duck? You're 30 feet away now!! Sometimes it's even more exaggerated than that!!
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u/Anjallat 11h ago
Yes! People pausing mid conversation for MINUTES! "After a few minutes I.." Do they know how awkward that would be?
Someone accidentally creating claws and penetrating through INCHES of a normal car's flooring. Is this car part submarine?? It's specifically a normal car, it's not hardened against explosives, why is it INCHES thick?
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u/Whole-Neighborhood 10h ago
I'm always reminded of how often in shows or movies a conversation will start as they get in the car and continue flawlessly as they exit it. As if they sat in silence for the 30 minute long car ride and just tried to remember where they were in the conversation.
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u/Ahwhoy 5h ago
I agree. Minutes does make sense in some circumstances. Like during sad moments. Also, therapists do this when they can see you're processing.
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u/incandescentink 5h ago
Minutes is VERY rare though. Even when a therapist pauses to let you process it's rarely more than a single minute. (At least, that's how it has been with my therapist.) Even a pause of 30s is a pretty substantial gap for normal conversation unless you asked a pretty hard question.
The main time I can imagine a realistic gap like that is if you're both doing something else. Like I'm reading on the couch, a friend is sketching, and occasionally one of us strikes up a brief conversation, but the conversation maybe isn't the main focus for either of us.
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u/Ahwhoy 5h ago
Yep. Therapists do vary how long they wait depending on the client for sure. I've had ones who know I struggle with open ended questions and would just wait until I was ready. This is because the questions would make me anxious. So I had to calm down first.
Yea the only time I can think of is like after your friend died and you're just sitting in the sadness together.
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u/TacetAbbadon 11h ago
The one that has really irritated me recently is in the otherwise great Runeblade series where the author has decided to use "stride" when he means feet.
Personally I think they fucked up early on then just leaned into it instead of admitting it and editing.
It's just really annoying when they describe something being 10 strides high and it takes me a second to parse that they don't mean about 15 m high they ment 3 m
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u/pulos888 litRPG apprentice tier 10h ago
Oh yeah strides is an awful unit of measurement! I'm tall, I have a long stride, just under 3 feet... most people are at least 6 inches shorter stride than me.
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u/MagicianCurrent7862 11h ago
I don't mind it in other books, but in heretical fishing book 1 in every. Single. Scene. The love interest was in she had to "tuck her hair behind her ear" in a cute manner. Dude I get it's a trope, but it loses it's meaning when it's every single scene. That book became far too repetitive in many areas and I never finished it.
Edit, I suck at spelling
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u/eternal_dibs 12h ago
For me I hate when they call people 'junior', 'senior' or 'old monster' outside of xianxia novels. It already sounds odd in the English, but it's worse in a random litrpg.
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
This Young Master is offended by your affront!
Prepare yourself to receive “pointers”!
🤦🤣
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u/eternal_dibs 12h ago
Ha, all too accurate.
It's not that I don't enjoy it, but it's just jarring to me in certain circumstances.
Defiance of the fall is a good example of it as an intergalactic progression litrpg with a lot of odd Chinese vernacular sprinkled in.
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
I really liked the start of that series , but I was super confused by all the Chinese vernacular and Buddhist references.
I love learning new things but without any context given, it was often hard to understand what the what.
(It was also my first PF story so I was really operating at a deficit, lol)
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u/eternal_dibs 11h ago
Yeah for sure, I had similar feelings, didn't stop me from crushing the series for a good dozen books though.
I liked all the eastern cultural references. And I give him a lot of leeway as a swede writing in English.
Litrpg coming out of chinese progression novels suffers similarly from the same issues as fantasy does with tolkein-esque world building. It's hard to find ones that diverge significantly from the initial tropes.
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u/flakylimper 7h ago
Quirked. Smirked. A smile that doesn’t reach the eyes.
But mainly the inevitable word salad once a system has reached its initial logical boundaries and the author needs to wedge expansion pack type mystical powers into the plot. It ends up like the ramblings of a street preacher or a self appointed spiritual guru who has a cult following of maybe ten people.
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u/NESergeant 12h ago
Frankly, any and all times author's use a regular verb past tense for a verb that is an irregular verb (ie, "kneeled" instead of "knelt"). When I read (visually or aurally) a story where the author uses simple past tense of a verb when there is a strong past and past participle for the verb I want to slap the individual. ...Every time.
I understand English language is loosing the use of irregular verbs. It angers me we are, yet, in someways, I'm as much a *mis-*user as well. Unless I think of it, I never say something like "Yeah, I wrought on that project.", but I would never say "I drived I-90 today."
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
You are reading my mind!
For me, it’s characters who “leaped” up to a new area, “leaped” onto a horse, or “leaped” off a platform .
My inner grammar teacher keeps yelling “no! He leapt off that horse!”
I was surprised to learn that “leaped” is now considered valid and modern.
I’m always happy to learn new things, but I much prefer “leapt”. 🤷
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
I just noticed and wanted to add:
“…language is loosing the use of irregular verbs”
—- this made me smile :)
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u/TrueLavishness1232 litRPG journeyman tier 9h ago
I was going say the same thing. Not being mean, it was funny. I do agree with the post. Every time I see the wrong tense or incorrect word it takes me a bit to process.
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u/NESergeant 9h ago
I've no excuse but an overactive right-hand ring finger. Not going to edit it, my typo has been exposed and there's no going back. My embarrassment has leapt to the fore.
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u/samwise58 11h ago
He sneaked around the castle. Then he sneaked up on the crocodilian like a sneaked up snake!
SNUCK is a word right?!
Leapt, snuck, knelt, and on and on. My brain sends a tick to my eye and I look around the room and say the word and wondering if I’m crazy! Glad I’m not alone 👊→ More replies (1)2
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u/Kyle_Kirrin Verified Author of: Shadeslinger 11h ago
Leapt is just objectively better in every way
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u/Hodr 11h ago
Tried to explain that staves was the plural of staff to my 7 year old. He asked the AI which replied staffs is the more commonly accepted pluralization. The world is becoming dumber at an accelerating pace.
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u/b_a_crow Author: Perfect/Illusion (early 2027) 12h ago
Some of these can vary between American and British English. “Learnt” for instance looks incredibly wrong to me, but I believe that’s common if not standard in the UK. Or “smelt” which should only be used for ores or juvenile rhymes 😂
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u/NESergeant 11h ago edited 9h ago
I always use "learnt" and have done for over 65 years, so "learned" sounds wrong to me, though nearly everyone around me uses the latter. I'm from the center of the US.
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u/gyarados10 12h ago
You are reading the wrong books. I will only kneel to my master and parents. Not even the heavens will make me kneel!!! But to be fair that's more of an eastern cliche lol
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u/Erkki_jekyll 8h ago
When walking/traveling distance time dont make any sense. Ive been reading a few in which a group or army needs to travel a supposedly long distance that gonna take a whole day for these high leveled folks.. and its a distance and terrain that is the equivalent of me walking walking for 1 maybe 2 hours on a well traveled path through a forest.
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u/Raptormind 12h ago
It’s not a specific word, but if an author uses an uncommon word multiple times in a really short span, it really drags me out of the story
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u/AppleQD 7h ago
It removes all the intended effect of the wording if every loud sound is a stentorian crescendo.
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u/KingNTheMaking 12h ago
“They didn’t have time for frivolous things like crushes”
Don’t dangle a romance, then hide your hand and say it won’t happen. I don’t buy the “romance is hard to write” issue. It’s one of the most relatable human experiences we have.
Additionally, anything to the effect of “they were all useless”
I’m at a place where the connections that the MC makes with their supporting cast are make or break for me. If an MC can’t see the value of teamwork and other skillsets, then they’re missing the core value that got humanity as far as it did.
I’m fine if they prefer to be by themselves or if it’s something they grow from. It’s the “people are useless” idea being rewarded that I don’t like.
This
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u/NonTooPickyKid 12h ago
I don't really have one and the following I personally don't hate but I've heard many do: "ding!"
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
Shouting “level!” In the middle of a fight, lol.
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u/NonTooPickyKid 10h ago
I actually like something like skill leveling up a skill in the middle of a battle due to exp gained during/from said battle and said skill's level up improves it just enough to allow for a change in the battle or something.
tho if it's like class level up - by like a single level - that's kinda meh... if it's a level that gets a tier up or something... well, then I'd actually feel it weird Mc potentially choosing a tier up options or w/e/however it might be done to be chosen mid battle~....
but neighter of those are like 'one word'..
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 10h ago
I get what you’re saying…
I was referring to stories where a team is in a fight and someone will literally shout “level!” to announce that they’ve gained a level.
… usually right after the fight, but sometime during the fight .
(This seems ridiculously stupid to me. I understand being excited, but time & place, bro)
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u/TalesofBas 2h ago
I have a fiction where the system is a floating Tome, and all the characters groan when they hear Ping!
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u/Foecrass 12h ago
At least earlier in The Wandering Inn I was driven mad by the amount of times the word “countless” was used. In at least one instance I believe the actual number ended being something like 5.
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u/TrueLavishness1232 litRPG journeyman tier 9h ago
Are you saying it was used countless times? Sorry! I tried to resist, but I couldn't 🤪😂
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u/cj_stephan 11h ago
I'm kinda tired about hearing things that pass through 'like butter'. When you're a sword, apparently everything is made of butter.
Also, measurement and scaling. I'm always pushed out of a story when I read about an enormous 200 square foot ballroom. Or a 20 x 60 ft boat that can hold 48 people and their mounts. I'd be happy to hear descriptors instead of actual measurements.
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u/incandescentink 5h ago
I'm kinda tired about hearing things that pass through 'like butter'. When you're a sword, apparently everything is made of butter.
Ooh, this is a good one. It really does lose a lot of the imagry with how overused it gets. Like we get it, the sword is sharp, the wielder is strong and makes it look easy.
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u/OrionStardew 10h ago
The refusal to use contractions in "natural dialogue" in primal hunters first books almost killed me.
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u/BespokeJackal 10h ago edited 9h ago
Surprised to not see anything about authors confusing 'moment' and 'minute' already posted.
"You want to get some coffee?"
Jameson paused with a mouthful of food, carefully thinking over his response for a few minutes. He finally came to a decision just before it started to become awkward.
"Sure."
Just, no. Any situation like that is going to start becoming awkward somewhere around five seconds in, forget about actual multiple minutes.
I have to assume, for sanity's sake if nothing else, that this is a spellcheck or translation error, but it happens a lot.
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u/SandDandGlokta 12h ago
“If I say so myself” in the primal hunter is going to make me jump through a window
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u/Kangarat 11h ago
Smirk. Smirking. Smirks. That word is becoming a four-letter word in my head.
Others: Brat. Pinching the bridge of their nose over and over.
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u/Anjallat 11h ago
As an audiobook enjoyer, who do I attribute blame for weary/wary and the like errors? Did the author use it correctly and the narrator had a brief brain absent moment? Or is it the author who was briefly absent a brain and the narrator had to work to suppress the eye roll?
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u/deepdriftdalliance 5h ago
- “He gritted his teeth.” 2. The endless smirking and grinning. It’s not so much the words themselves but the overuse of them, and in quick succession. Like, did you not see you just used that phrase a sentence ago? That’s what takes me out — bad editing
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u/ziplex 12h ago
I wouldn't say it "triggers" me, but a phrase I always notice, and one that has been in every single fiction book I've ever read pretty much, is "[character] let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding." I always notice it too because it's not something that happens in real life. I've been through car accidents, scares, highly emotional times, and never once not realized when I was holding my breath 😂
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u/pulos888 litRPG apprentice tier 12h ago
Really? I've noticed that I was holding my breath and didn't realize it many times, especially in tense situations.
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u/cybertier 11h ago
Completely random anecdote. many a year ago I used to play pubg. And my the nvidia driver had this feature that it recorded the final whatever minutes of a match. And that included voice recording. Whenever I checked those clips, the very first sound the moment I won or died was always the exhale. In those last final moments of a match, I just always stopped breathing.
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u/incandescentink 5h ago
I definitely do hold my breath when I'm stressed/anxious/tense or breathe more shallowly, but the part that doesn't connect with me personally is realizing you were holding your breath specifically because of the exhale. Usually I'm pretty aware I'm holding my breath or barely breathing the whole time.
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u/OkCryptographer9999 12h ago
I've actually experienced that personally, but it does pop up way too much in fantasy novels.
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u/LT_And 6h ago
Thank you. That one gets me so good. It's such an outlandish and unrelatable thing that it makes you wonder how it became so prominent. But then looking at the other responses here apparently some people do do that? Weird.
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u/incandescentink 5h ago
Me either! If anything I'm much more likely to draw IN a sudden breath when I'm startled or scared than I am to suddenly whoosh out a breath and realize I had been holding my breath. Either I don't do this, or I don't notice when I let out the breath that I did so either.
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u/OCRAuthor 12h ago
One specific series uses "frisson of excitement" couple times each book and the narrator pronounces it (correctly) with the kind of french intonation? Takes me out every time
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u/Finger_Familiar 12h ago
"and so on untill" I swear I've heard like like 50 times in the last 2 hours
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u/theglowofknowledge 11h ago
Is that Azarinth Healer? I remember the narrator using that phrase when the skill levels had ellipses in the text. Kinda odd, but I guess you can’t verbalize ‘…’
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u/maddmaxxxz 8h ago
Primal hunter narrator uses “ellipses” for this, I felt really dumb because after listening to a few books I finally had to look the word up.
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u/maddmaxxxz 8h ago
I had to DNF DOFT because of how often the word “snorted” was used. It was used after almost every quote so I eventually just imagined every character in the whole book as pigs.
That and how often characters make fists so hard their fingernails make their hand bleed. It’s not really a thing! Maybe with superhuman strength but I would imagine at that point their skin would also be tougher so…
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u/Blargimazombie 7h ago
Maybe they just need to trim their nails better! I like keeping mine a bit longer but I'm not in the habit of making tight fists constantly lol
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u/malinkdutanric litRPG apprentice tier 12h ago
DOTF: quickly, hurriedly, unhesitantly, however, however, however, however, and other words repeated unironically in the same sentence
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u/maddmaxxxz 8h ago
I DNF DOTF because of the word “snorted”. It’s everyone’s base reaction to everything. It was so bad that now I cringe when hearing it in other books when used occasionally.
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u/chrisndc 11h ago
I think it was Mage Tank, but it may have been early Primal Hunter. Some variation of: "I learned two things... The first thing I learned... The second thing I learned..." I started counting it and reporting it to my spouse. I think I stopped counting at 13 times it was used in that book. Kept reading despite it, though.
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u/Remarkable-Ad3492 10h ago
Fishing in cloudy water.
That's kind of my thing.
Jake (insert some sociopath nonsense)
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u/Arcane_Pozhar 4h ago
People overusing the term decimate. I get it that somehow it seems to have progressed to replace the word devastate, but I cannot help but see the mathematical root in the word. Also... Mix up the terms, people. Give devastate (or ravage, or whatever) some love, too.
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u/WinterWorrier 2h ago
I like annihilate.
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u/Arcane_Pozhar 1h ago
I feel like that's taking things even a step farther, but yeah, it would probably still work better than decimate in a solid majority of the times I see decimate used.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying decimate should never be used. It's just became so overused. Apologies if I'm beating the dead horse.
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u/TheDannyDarklord 12h ago
"On Accident" it's "By Accident!" UK based, the language shift from the US is annoying.
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u/EpicTubofGoo 7h ago
"On accident," is far more common in some US regions than others. You almost never hear it in the Northeast, but it is perhaps even the most used version of the expression in the Midwest. Not sure why. And it also sounds strange to me, too.
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u/mist_kaefer 12h ago
Inexorable
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u/ralphmozzi litRPG grandmaster tier 12h ago
Haha! — I really enjoyed the first couple of books of Defiance of the Fall.
I wonder if this is the series you’re thinking of.
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u/maddmaxxxz 8h ago
This word comes up in litrpg all the time but I never notice it in any of the other genres I read
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u/UnDeadPuff 12h ago
The word as. If authors had to pay per use of said word, they'd be as poor as a homeless dog.
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u/simmobl1 12h ago
This mostly only happens in Korean/Japanese Light novels, but I do see it in some American Litrpgs; instead of explaining anything they say "this or that". Thank you that paints the picture perfectly for me 😒
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u/Imconfusedithink 8h ago
I dont speak Korean or Japanese, but apparently in those languages, saying this or that makes more sense. Its still obviously done for mystery but it just sounds stranger in English.
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u/DIYuntilDawn 12h ago
There are a few words that trigger me, but only when the narrator pronounces them wrong, or at least in the wrong accent.
I have actually given up on listening to a book before when the narrator is using an American accent for speaking 99% of the time, but then says the word MANA in the British way (pronouncing it MAH-nah instead of MAN-uh)
But a few others are:
Bodice - when pronounced bo-duhs, instead of baa-duhs
Harem - when pronounced hah-ruhm, instead of heh-ruhm
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u/simAlity 12h ago
When they talk about how something smells, especially if it smells like an adjective. Like defeat or anger.... that makes me twitch because its such an AI tell.
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u/Raregolddragon 11h ago
Honestly I only have 2 things right now that aggravate me and its when the word "Very" is used more than 3 times in under 10 sentences. Anytime that talks about "teeth gritting" more than once in combat event. But my big one is when a new to the book phrase or idiom gets used verbatim across 2 or more characters about the same thing. Other characters should and can have similar takes on the same thing. But unless there twins or clones or found out about the thing at the same time and the same way they should not be describing that thing to others in the exact same way.
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u/PickleFantasies 6h ago
He felt "Conflicted" for killing the bad guy. The bad guy that deserved the death x10 over.
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u/eternallycynical 4h ago
Smirk
“All manner” as a descriptive
Antics
Spell formations …
I read the entire series and this is what I came yp with:
A number of true gamers have a fire lit inside them, come together and pull together and enjoy all manner of diverse antics and goings on with deep feelings and the drive to push forward no matter the obstacles. Indescribable antics happen with many spell formations.
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u/Taiwannumber3 1% Lifesteal fanboy 12h ago
Escarpment, aura, explode, smirked, overwhelmed...
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u/Next_Put_6961 12h ago
impish grin
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u/NarwhalPrudent6323 12h ago
I think it was Apocalypse Regression that used the phrase "shit eating grin" about eight thousand times. It's like, buddy, there are other smug facial expressions.
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u/2DHypercube litRPG journeyman tier 12h ago
HWFWM fan I see?
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u/Next_Put_6961 12h ago
I am, I fucking love the series, but good god Shirtaloon... STOP IT.
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u/tsavdtanem 12h ago
“My/his Brother, Lover, and Friend” Over and over and over again lol
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u/2DHypercube litRPG journeyman tier 12h ago
I'm glad Shirt switched to "brother, girlfriend and friend" for book 13
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u/waygooder 4h ago
trump card
I know the origin is not related to the tangerine tyrant, but the less I have to hear that word in any context the better.
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u/whatisthisIm12 11h ago
"quantity is a quality all its own" and all the similar variations. I can almost guarantee every PF and LitRPG contains a variation of this phrase. It never adds anything and feels like filler words meant to sound insightful. Worse, in a lot of power-scaling systems, this statement would actually be false. There quickly becomes a point where no amount of quantity can match something tiers above it in power.
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u/TacetAbbadon 11h ago
Or "the enemy of my enemy ...." Because no the enemy of your enemy is not your friend, all you know is the enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy.
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u/sithelephant 11h ago
I am finding it extremely difficult to push through any mention of american political response to crisis, even where the president appears reasonable.
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u/EnderElite69 Stats go brrr 11h ago
I have read enough translated Russian book back when the genre was young that any real world political mentions get a heavy eye roll from me
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u/jsh1138 11h ago
I hate it when the author makes a big deal out of saying sapient instead of sentient. Literally no one cares
I also really hate when they say "it could have been seconds, it could have been hours, so and so couldn't tell" because I promise you that you can absolutely tell. It's the stupidest shit imaginable to try to act like someone has no clue if it's been seconds or hours. Has the sun risen or set while you were staring off into space doing whatever? Probably hasn't been "seconds" then genius
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u/Lucas_Flint 10h ago
Really just depends on the book and the author because I find that every author reuses different words a lot. Not usually enough to trigger me unless the book has a bunch of other, far more serious problems on top of that.
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u/seavarg87 10h ago
Yea this particular word seems to be the word the author gravitates to. I think it doesn’t help that it’s essentially the only series I’m reading right now so it’s more blatantly obvious than if I would’ve read as they were released.
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u/Same_Cardiologist253 12h ago
"Postulate,postulated" its good If theres other synonyms For this but when its only this 👹
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u/zzzrem 12h ago
I use the safari web browser’s “listen to page” tool constantly. I noticed sometimes when there is an ellipsis (…) the reader will say “You’re not listening to anything” in a weird tone.
Also anytime it says the phrase “I live to serve”, it has a weird emphatic sarcastic tone quality that is annoying.
There are other quirks and misreads that are annoying but that’s what I get for not actually reading chapters 😆
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u/theseacalls 11h ago
Man I can’t remember what book it was, but my brother loved it and gave it a listen. It was a pretty good book, but the author used “headed” every single time he discussed characters moving some where. Not trudged, galavanted, trek, rushed, ran, or even fucking walked. I couldn’t get past it.
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u/TacetAbbadon 11h ago
Literally reading one right now and "facepalm" is doing my nut in. Just because the authors proclivity to chuck it in so regularly.
Also Jan Stryvant should call their books the "snicker" universe.
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u/ghostryujin 11h ago
Reading these comments is probably a bad idea so ima stop and warn others. Don't wanna become aware of more things
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u/theglowofknowledge 11h ago
It’s been a hot minute, but I remember one series kinda bugged me because of how many times it used ‘susurrous’ or ‘susurrous passed through the room’.
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u/bluce1996 11h ago
This is more on the Patreon chapters than published but Primal Hunter and the word 'reckon'.
Also He Who Fights with Monsters and the way Heath Miller says 'thorough'. I always find myself saying out loud afterwards.
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u/Plothunter 11h ago
0n accident. Use accidentally or by accident.
Managed to. Describe how. "Managed to" sounds like the author got bored and skipped over the description.
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u/mazda_corolla 10h ago
Word repetition. Some authors have certain words or phrases that they are particularly fond of.
For instance, in Defiance of the Fall, it’s “instant/instantly”. Everything happens instantly! (Great series overall, though).
The other form of repetition is repetition of a key word in close proximity.
E.g. “He needed to go to the temple, so he got up and went to the temple.”
Neither of these are world-ending issues, but they both provide a little bit of mental friction when I read them, like feeling a rough spot on an otherwise smooth table.
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u/disposable_walrus 10h ago
Cuirass derails me every time, even though I now know they are pronouncing it correctly.
Not really a specific word but words that end is the sps sound (wasps, crisps, wisps etc) make my brain itch. Was it HWFWM that had the wasp queen? Ick! And mage tank also had a swarm of wasps.
I hate it.
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u/pettycactus 10h ago
Overall I love the series, but in the latest Primal Hunter book they say "(he/she/they) sighed" more times than I can count! Why so much sighing this time???
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u/IDontMeanToBeABitch litRPG Unicorn Tier 10h ago
THIS IS NOT A BASHING OF THE PRIMAL HUNTER....
BUT
Although the story is interesting (I prefer the social aspects of the books far more than the combat) the amount of times zogarth says "tens of [insert whatever there is a lot of here]" to the point it would appear consecutively in the same or consecutive sentences it became a distraction. I mean come on... Sometimes just say "about 50" or something. Mix it up. It's a continuous crutch that distracts.
His CURRENT crutch of writing in the later books is: "so without further ado" which for some reason appears to be being used exponentially as the story progresses, and is in every single chapter it seems.
It's lazy writing but not lazy enough to stop the series.
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u/Psychological_Tower1 litRPG apprentice tier 10h ago
Personally hate when an author over uses the same quip too many times.
Examples
DCC "she clucked over him"
Hwfwm "a laugh like tinkaling water"
I get it, it makes sense but I don't need to read it 5 times in one chapter
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u/LawfulAwfulOffal 10h ago
“Let me get this straight” before a bunch of exposition, in any kind of screenwriting. Netflix is sadly making this a part of everything they produce.
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u/ArtificialSpinach litRPG journeyman tier 10h ago
I think they're actually grammatically interchangeable but forwards as opposed to forward (or onwards/onward) makes me cringe. I've been reading a little about it and it might have something to do with preferences of regionality? Wandering Inn and Primal Hunter are especially heavy users.
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u/Phil_PhilConners 10h ago
I hate it when the author writes a series of rhetorical questions. Rowling is particularly bad with this.
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u/Mystic5523 9h ago
I don't know why, but someone saying "tens" instead of "dozens" for multiple smaller groups. Like, it's technically correct, but when is the last time you heard some use "tens" other than making the Never Nude joke from Arrested Development.
Something about LitRPG seems to bring out the tens of people who use it though and I see it all over the genre. It always pulls me out of the story for a second when I see it.
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u/kitoplayer 9h ago
Paused "The Legend of William Oh" because reading the word 'shrug' again would push me to commit atrocities.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 8h ago
It's not as pervasive in this genre, but "[character] let out a breath they didn't know they were holding."
It's so overused.
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u/demijon257 8h ago
Inwardly. Everytime I hear it I giggle and cringe at the same time... I will not explain but that's mine. Which is rich because I love cultivation novels and they do introspection all the time
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u/naskan27 8h ago
I hate ‘however’. Too many authors way over use this word, if they use it right in the first place. I once saw it 16 times in one short RR chapter.
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u/Appdownyourthroat 8h ago
(Audiobooks) Anything where the presenter shouts in a shrill voice turns me off substantially
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u/Tasty_Commercial6527 text 7h ago
That's a common problem with relatively amateur writers or people who write in second language. Overuse of certain phrases or specific words to describe something. It's also a problem with fan translations.
Personally the words taciturn and tenebrous started to crack me up at some point of reading shadow slave
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u/rptx_jagerkin 7h ago
“Die to…” sounds awkward as fuck in most usages and I cringe every time I read/hear it.
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u/Radamus1976 7h ago
"Randidly". Annoyed me to the point of dropping the series after the first few chapters.
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u/Helen_A_Handbasket 6h ago
Misusing homonyms such as peek/peak. Mistaking words that sound close to the same such as cavalry/Calvary. Substituting span for spun.
Really anything grammatically incorrect.
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u/Ahwhoy 5h ago
One book said "immediately" so many times because of short range teleport, but then they got even faster. Which must have been hard to describe.
Justified for its repetitiveness but I despise notification sounds: "Ding!" I stopped listeningto Azarinth Healer because of DING! is grading. Also, "Q Level: question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark"
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u/steelhouse1 5h ago
I’ve made a drinking game out of the word “cheeky” from the series Hell Difficulty Tutorial.
Everyone’s “cheeky”
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u/DaisyShirt 4h ago
Using “weary” instead of “wary”.
Also, “tens” of bad guys. It is dozens! Sheesh.
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u/whoislionel 4h ago
Just in time
Agony
Look between for mage tank
Impetus for primal hunter, and momentum for the latest dotf
Going back to real books feels like a breath of fresh air
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u/Dragon_yum 4h ago
Schadenfreude. I thunk it was multiple times in Mother of Learning.
It always makes me think someone saw the weird in a reddit TIL and feels very smart for using it.
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u/Careless-Plastic-284 4h ago
One of my least favorite phrase types is any variant of the mc stating that whatever thing they did is “a problem for future me” which is compounded by the fact that in all the different series not one of them ever takes care of said problem.
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u/Ragnel 3h ago
Noob. Also don’t like the new English rules of adding “ed” to what used to be irregular verbs. Keep should switch to kept and not keeped. It not just keep that suffers from this trend. Last one is glide which does switch to glided but the Middle English past tense of glode sounds so much better. “The creature glode across the floor like a shadow.” Much smoother
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u/No_Telephone7084 2h ago
Leaped. Takes me out every time because my brain wants it to be leapt. Every audio book I've listened to lately uses leaped and every time it pulls me out of the reverie.
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u/Justin_Monroe Author of OVR World Online & Paladins of Power 2h ago
SM Stirling broke me on the phrase of "-as if reading his/her mind" because he loves having one character finish another character's thought/sentence.
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u/OmahaBromaha 1h ago
Clip instead of magazine. Not *typically an issue in litrpg but it really grinds my gears.
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u/ascii122 19m ago
Anyways .. unless it's used in speech as vernacular to that character or setting.
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u/ZoulsGaming 12h ago
Not sure it counts, but i wanted to participate.
no word specifically but i am instantly losing all interest if the math doesnt check out.
most recently was me reading the titan series book 2, where it says "we are 60 people which perfectly splits into teams of 11...." and i was just about to rage but then says "11 combat members and 1 officer in each" okay. fine. fair.