Pet peeve #45,103

As a writer, I hate the word caused.

I know, I know, we shouldn’t hate any words. And yes, of course, caused is a valid word and has excellent usages, most of them in legal briefs.

Okay, okay, also in peer-reviewed, passive voice scientific papers.

Why do I hate caused? Because 90% of the time I see it in fiction, it’s in a verb phrase like this:

The sadness in her voice caused him to pause.

She jumped back, causing him to fall down.

Yeah, okay, they’re not inherently objectionable sentences. (Ha ha. Lawyer? Object?) But for the vast majority of sentences like these, the “cause” sounds external, overwritten and intrusive.

I may have some strong feelings on the matter.

What on Earth is wrong with just using the word “made“? Isn’t that what most of us would say? Isn’t it simpler and more elegant?

Most of all, when we use caused, we sound like this:

For our one year anniversary, my girlfriend caused myself to go to a Yankees game, with whomever amongst our friends can go. But, the Weather Channel just changed their forecast and the skies are grey, so we might go with the girl that lives next door to see the movie, “Iron Man 2”.

Yeah, I know, I’m my own brand of crazy.

What otherwise innocent words drive you crazy? (And don’t say you just hate the way “moist” or “moisture” sounds. I hate people who say that!)

Photo by Benny Lin

9 thoughts on “Pet peeve #45,103”

  1. I don’t have a lot of pet peeves, but your post reminds me of an agent (who shall remain nameless, of course) who blogs regularly using ’cause’ where she means ‘because’. It’s not a casual ‘cuz’ as in texting, but a glaring misuse in the middle of a sentence, and it turns up so often that it makes my teeth grind. It’s small of me, I know. I try to ignore it, but it’s difficult.

  2. Ooooh . . . word pet peeves. How about mixing up “eek” and “eke.” If you “eek” out a living, maybe you should look for a new job, since your current one seems to be scaring you.

    Apostrophes where they don’t belong. For a while, the birthday board at my kids’ school read “October birthday’s.” Aiyeee! My eyes! My eyes!

    1. Eek and eke are ones that I have to think about—there are a few frequently-confused pairs that every time I see one, I think it’s wrong, and have to reanalyze.

      +1 for apostrophes

  3. Just check my ms. Only 5 instances of “caused”, 4 in dialog. Here is the only case:
    “Well, well, if it ain’t the Duchess of Podunk,” said Al, the hulking miscreant who had caused her errant dart to kill a man.

    I have 49 cases of “made”. Dunno the breakdown but it looks ~50% dialog.
    Probably should look into it.

    1. Weeeeell, if this is Steam Palace, then it’s probably okay. I should’ve made an exception for historical/pseudohistorical.

      And even I use caused about 5 times in my MS (never causing, I think). The “had caused” seems less abrasive for some reason… I’m totally okay with those.

  4. I hate state-of-being verbs. Just started reading THE EYRE AFFAIR today for LDS book club. The first chapter drove me absolutely crazy with them because their overuse keeps me from visualizing the story!

  5. I love your blog. It caused me to thnk of all the mubo jumbo in contracts etc. that make my head spin and I feel like the blonde I only try to be sometimies when it suits my purpose. 🙂

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