The soul of writing is specificity, yet all too often, we lean on general-purpose words instead of choosing the most precise ones. Most of our daily communication probably depends on less than 1,000 words. Of course, that includes words such as you, I, is, are, of, and for, which are already the best words for the job. I admit that sometimes in conversation, I deliberately limit my vocabulary because I don’t want others to look at me quizzically: “Who does he think he is, anyway: one of the authors of a writing tips blog?” The result is vague, even boring, conversation, using words so general, they could fit almost everything in the world.
Choosing other words is no improvement, if we always choose the same words. A world where everything is cool or awesome is not much more interesting than a world where everything is fine or good.
So let’s buck the trend. Here are 41 alternatives to good that can’t be used to describe everything in the world because they each have specific meanings, or at least, different connotations.
Leave a Reply