Tag Archives: The Princess Bride

February 27, 2019 · 11:49 pm

Replace These Words in Your Writing

Writing is hard, and weird, and in the scheme of human existence pretty new. We’ve been talking for maybe half a million years, writing for just about 5,000. So sometimes we write stuff that we’d never say aloud. We use a complicated or “smart-sounding” word when a simpler word would work better. New York Times editor Dan Saltzstein listed some great examples on Twitter. They pop up in news media, but also in “business speak.” If you’re trying to write effectively, watch out for these:

Source: Replace These Words in Your Writing

Twitter users suggested many more. (The > is a “greater than” sign, not an arrow. The words on the left are better.)

We’d like to add:

  • Name > dub
  • Turn > render
  • Big > massive
  • Maybe > perhaps

These aren’t rules, of course; they’re just suggestions, language is fluid, yadda yadda. Almost all the “lesser” words above have good uses. Save them for those uses. To leverage something is specifically to “use it to its maximum advantage.” Something sprawling is “spreading out over a large area in an untidy or irregular way.” Suits are bespoke, and medieval knights get slain. Okay, you’ve been waiting to add your own—go for it.

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About the author

Nick Douglas

Staff Writer, Lifehacker | Nick has written for Gawker, the Awl, the Toast, the Daily Dot, Urlesque, and the web series “Jaywalk Cop.” He currently runs the horror-comedy podcast “Roommate From Hell.”

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July 3, 2014 · 11:20 am

43 Inconceivable Facts About “The Princess Bride” You Probably Never Knew

43 Inconceivable Facts About "The Princess Bride" You Probably Never Knew.

1. The Princess Bride was almost made into a movie in the ’70s, and a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger was seriously considered to play Fezzik.

2. By the time the movie was actually made, Schwarzenegger was too expensive to hire.

3. The Rodents of Unusual Size were men in rat suits.

4. One of the R.O.U.S. actors got into a fight with his wife and burned down the kennel they owned, so the film crew bailed him out of jail so he could film the Fire Swamp scene.

5. Director Rob Reiner auditioned over 500 women for the role of Buttercup, including Courtney Cox, Meg Ryan, Uma Thurman, and Whoopie Goldberg.

6. Robin Wright is originally from Texas but barely needed any dialect coaching for Buttercup’s English accent. Her father is British.

For more trivia about The Princess Bride: http://www.buzzfeed.com/keelyflaherty/inconceivable-facts-about-the-princess-bride-you-probably

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