said-bookism
said-bookism noun: a verb (such as "explained", "shouted", or "uttered") used to indicate dialogue when writing fiction, chosen so as to avoid using the word "said".
Noun
said-bookism (plural said-bookisms)
- A verb (such as "explained", "shouted", or "uttered") used to indicate dialogue when writing fiction, chosen so as to avoid using the word "said".
- Jim Blish once dedicated a book to me. He introduced me to the music of Charles Ives, to the taste of Vander Flip, to the urgency of avoiding the said-bookism, to the concept of the watershed, to the pleasures of Indo-Ceylonese food.1980, Harlan Ellison, Shatterday, Houghton Mifflin, Dedication
- The studious avoidance, in writing dialogue, of the word "said".
- Synonyms:
- bookism
Synonyms of said-bookism
Forms of said-bookism
| plural | said-bookisms |
|---|
Origin of said-bookism
From The Said Book + -ism; coined by James Blish, writing under the pen name William Atheling Jr., after The Said Book, the title of a booklet for aspiring writers listing countless alternatives to the word “said” in writing dialogue.
Questions about said-bookism
- What does said-bookism mean?
- Said-bookism means a verb (such as "explained", "shouted", or "uttered") used to indicate dialogue when writing fiction, chosen so as to avoid using the word "said".
- What part of speech is said-bookism?
- Said-bookism is a noun.
- What is the plural of said-bookism?
- The plural of said-bookism is said-bookisms.
Words near said-bookism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: said-bookism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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