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I've been delving into the associated fluff for the 40K universe, picking up several audiobooks to listen to while I work. One thing has quickly become clear...40K authors clearly have a hard-on for certain words. Perhaps it's part of a Black Library style guide, or such, but I notice several words coming up with an unusually high occurrence. I think "flensing," or "flensed" is currently in a tie with "geyser/geysered/geysering."

Are there other thesaurus-denying repeat offenders you've come across?

Grim dark.

I think "anathema" is used more in one book than I've seen anywhere else.

And it might just be me, but "foetal" sticks out since that's not how I usually spell it.

ALIGN YOUR HUMORS BROTHERS

"frak"
"fething"
Pretty much any word used to substitute the worlds favorite 4 letter word...

Im probably eight books deep into the Gaunt series and I literally have to stop myself from saying "feth"

In Legion everyone keeps saying 'Fug'.
Then again, it features interesting words, like 'kudos' in the year 30000!

'Lockstep' appeared quite a lot in one of the early HH books - can't remember which one but it cropped up enough to become amusing.

multilaser.

Meta(game).

Twist
Ruined
Blasted
Smoke
Feth

40k books use the word "Brother" only slightly more than Hulk Hogan did before he sold his soul to rent-a-center.

 Baldsmug wrote:
40k books use the word "Brother" only slightly more than Hulk Hogan did before he sold his soul to rent-a-center.

he lost everything during the divorce. I am pretty sure that his soul was also taken by her.

Anyone who read Prospero Burns will likely agree that Dan Abnett's over reliance on the phrase "wet leopard growl" as a descriptor for how every single space wolf talks eventually became so grating that it distracted from whatever was going on in the book every time he used it. It got to a point where I wanted to tear the page out of the book each time he would recycle that expression. Really Dan? In all of the english language you couldn't find one other word or group of words to convey how a space wolf might sound?

QFT:

'"Wet leopard growl," remarked Wet Leopard Growl, with a wet leopard growl, like a leopard. When it growls. Wetly.' - pp. 1-416 Prospero Burns

Other than that great book, though.

Withering hail of fire!

Belive it or not "withering fire" is acually a pretty common military term used to describe sustained gun fire that eats up and destroys hard cover, troops, and equipment, and such!

Choler and phlegmatic. I think I'd heard those words a total of twice before reading the HH series, they appear as every other word in the opening trilogy, and they show up every now and then during the rest of the series.

 lowmanjason wrote:
"frak"
"fething"
Pretty much any word used to substitute the worlds favorite 4 letter word...

That, though, is an in-universe expression, not *just* an avoidance of various ratings laws in various countries. That these Tanith and Verghesite words have spread to other BL authors (not to mention gamers) is to be expected, I suppose. It's no different from the "frack" used in BSG.

I don't know about the novels, but there is a phrase structure that keeps popping up in Mat Ward's Codexes. I realise that unlike most here, I actually like his fluff, but this:

"And so did (entity, overly verbose action)."
For instance, "And so did Johnny the gretchin puke all over Thraka's lap before passing out, and it was deemed hilarious."

...this makes me cringe.

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
Choler and phlegmatic. I think I'd heard those words a total of twice before reading the HH series, they appear as every other word in the opening trilogy, and they show up every now and then during the rest of the series.

I've just finished Fulgrim, and I think I've had enough 'choler' to last me a lifetime.

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
Choler and phlegmatic. I think I'd heard those words a total of twice before reading the HH series, they appear as every other word in the opening trilogy, and they show up every now and then during the rest of the series.

I've just finished Fulgrim, and I think I've had enough 'choler' to last me a lifetime.

Ahh, but is said choler tempered?
I think that's the new "Hello" in the 31st millennium, "Temper your choler, brother."

Nevermind.

HERESY!!!

EMPRAH!

"The", "and", "or", "when". All are over-used.

"For everyone enemy he shot down, another two took its place."

What about the overily undetailed parts of the books. Where they overexagerate the numbers.

FETH
GAK
GITS
BOYZ
GREENSKINS
Alot of stuff in the books is overused.

 Psienesis wrote:

 lowmanjason wrote:
"frak"
"fething"
Pretty much any word used to substitute the worlds favorite 4 letter word...

That, though, is an in-universe expression, not *just* an avoidance of various ratings laws in various countries. That these Tanith and Verghesite words have spread to other BL authors (not to mention gamers) is to be expected, I suppose. It's no different from the "frack" used in BSG.

Thats frakin true... but it's still lame as feth!

Cleaved, grunted, thudded, and snarl are ones that are in every novel that involves a Space Marine.

Got to agree on the choler and phlegmatic, and anything on tempers really. Also I think Lupercal is a silly word used in odd contexts. Having truck with daemons came up all the time in some of the ultramarine books, and abnett uses the words "stink of ozone" a lot as well.