I have a love-hate reaction to that kind of thread. It is amusing to get one's own pet peeves wittily confirmed by others but the majority of the words are terms that I know I'd find perfectly all right if used with a little skill. And my hackles raise at how this discussion and others like it always veers into absolutist self-righteousness, like thou shalt *never* use a different word than "said" to attribute dialogue, and thou shalt *never* use a different word than "blue" or "red" to denote the colors blue and red, and, and ...

... and oh God what a boring world it would be if writers listened to "never"s. It would be so boring there would be no point in reading anything at all.

I know I have used many of the words listed and probably on occasion used them badly, but I've also used some and still think they were the exactly right words in that context; I think they were so right that I don't give a damn if it made some reader roll their eyes and stop reading. And I'd prefer to make the occasional error in good taste rather than start thinking about all the things people hate to see when I'm writing, but it's very hard not to start making mental notes when you read this kind of list. It's a sort of imagination straightjacket.

So all in all I think I hate it more than I love it and the thread annoys me more than it amuses me. Which is not directed at you, I hope you understand -- you're just the piano player. *g* It just makes me feel extremely contrary when people start wagging their pointer finger and saying "you should not and you should never!" It makes me want to go out and do exactly what I'm advised never and not to do. (So look for smirking, moist cum-fic from me next. ;)