To Thesaurus or not?


Makes me envision dinosaurs when I see that word. Whoever thought that name up must have been reading a book on dinos. Would love to see a thesaurus with blue/purple iridescent scales and bright red feathers.  It'd be 4 stories high and have every word in every language in it. Wouldn't that be grand?

Okay, I digress. But I'm curious. How many of you use a thesaurus to write?

I have a three inch thesaurus. The size of my thesaurus is no  match for any extinct reptile. My book is titled, The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale. Do I love it? You betcha!

The pages are marked with colored tabs (I put them there) to mark words I use too often. Yes, I have a terrible habit when I’m writing to use the same word over several times. The thesaurus helps me find another word in its place. I also think it adds a wonderful flavor to the story too.

I even found a name for my hero in the my novel Dragon Wish from this thesaurus. I searched the words brave, honorable, warrior. When I reached warrior, the name popped out. Paladin. Perfect match for my character so that's his name!

My thesaurus has over one million synonyms along with their acronyms. I’ve had it for about eight years now and the pages are a little yellow and bent. Did I say how much I loved this book? It was an excellent investment for my writing. I’ve tried the computer’s synonym finder but it’s not the same. The selections are small and don’t work well with what I’m searching for. Sort of like having an affair. I feel guilty using any other word search. Did I tell you I can be a little warped?

Do you have a favorite thesaurus? How often do you use it? Let me know.

Comments

kandie said…
I use both the MS word document thesaurus and an old Merriam-Webster thesaurus b/c I too have a habit of using a few words repeatedly. LOL. great post Judith!
Skinner said…
I use thesaurus.com quite a lot. Often it's more a tool for jogging my beleaguered memory than coming up with some surprising new word for calculator, but it's definitely an essential.
Cynthia said…
I also use thesaurus.com quite a bit, more when my mind is stuck for the perfect word. It helps to flip back and forth between the thesaurus and dictionary.com as all kinds of words pop up I would never thought of. They help job the noggin.

And your blog is GORGEOUS. The black background with the blue words which match the blue eye... OMG. So pretty!!
Cynthia said…
Oh -- that would be "JOG THE NOGGIN" -- I'm typing and watching Vampire Diaries...
#DISTRACTING!!! haha
I'm a blogger, not a writer, and yet if I type the letter "t" in my browser's address bar, the autofill immediately finishes it as "thesaurus.com" lol So yes, I use my thesaurus a LOT.
Judith Leger said…
Kandie!!Runs and tackles to give smooches!! Thanks hon!

I so agree Skinner. I sometime know the right word but it's like it's stuck on the tip of my tongue and I can't type it.

:D So True, Cynthia! Thanks about my blog. I'm an artist too so I see things in an artistic manner too.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Romanceaholic!
I use MicroSoft Word's thesaurus everytime I write, helps me come up with "the right word" when my brain is tired. It is an essential part of the writer's bag of tricks.

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