paddy whack a thesaurus
Nov. 30th, 2009 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynElsewhere there was a question about what word to use for the scattered things around one's home, like knick-knacks.
This is my response:
If I want to convey what's in a room, I usually go for specifics. There is almost no time where the kinds of things collected are not a window into character. Using a catch-all word is wasting an opportunity. If you say knick knacks, it's not the same as saying figurines of oddly misshapen children each on its own hand made doily. If you say things, it's not like saying dusty bobble-head dolls waiting to laugh at the slightest breeze. There's nothing like saying "an entire shelf of Star Trek action figures" to tell you about a 40 year old man who isn't married and bounces from job to job. Even saying "Unidentifiable things lovingly dusted and secure behind glass doors" is better than knick knacks.
This is my response:
If I want to convey what's in a room, I usually go for specifics. There is almost no time where the kinds of things collected are not a window into character. Using a catch-all word is wasting an opportunity. If you say knick knacks, it's not the same as saying figurines of oddly misshapen children each on its own hand made doily. If you say things, it's not like saying dusty bobble-head dolls waiting to laugh at the slightest breeze. There's nothing like saying "an entire shelf of Star Trek action figures" to tell you about a 40 year old man who isn't married and bounces from job to job. Even saying "Unidentifiable things lovingly dusted and secure behind glass doors" is better than knick knacks.
