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"Swayed aside"


Ascanius

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  • False Gods: 1.5 (swayed away)

Galaxy in Flames: 1

Fulgrim: 4

Descent of Angels: 2

A Thousand Sons: 2

Prospero Burns: 0 (but 16 wet leopard-growls/snarls/purrs)

The Outcast Dead: 3

The Primarchs: 1 ("The Reflection Crack'd")

Vengeful Spirit: 2

Legacies of Betrayal: 3 ("Thief of Revelations", "Lucius, the Eternal Blade", "The Eightfold Path")

War Without End: 1 ("The Devine Adoratrice")

The Silent War: 0.5 ("Templar", swayed like a tree in the wind)

Angels of Caliban: 0.5 (swayed out of the attack)

Praetorian of Dorn: 2.5 (3 x swayed back)

Corax: 2 (2 x swayed, swayed to his left, swayed to one side)

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I commented in another thread that Black Library authors ought to be banned from using the phrase "swayed aside" in future, because it's overused to the point of irritating me every time it comes up in a fight scene.

 

I started this thread to illustrate how often it's been used in the series without further derailing the original conversation. The only book I own but couldn't check was Scars because the e-book won't upload to Google Books correctly.

 

AD-B got my point. :wink:

 

It's a perfectly normal phrase construction (if a little inelegant in my opinion*) but it's reused and reused in fight scenes. Graham McNeill uses it the most, as should be obvious from the list, but he's far from alone.

 

* To me, "sway" has connotations of involuntary movement, like swaying while drunk or swaying in the wind.

Edited by mhacdebhandia
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I commented in another thread that Black Library authors ought to be banned from using the phrase "swayed aside" in future, because it's overused to the point of irritating me every time it comes up in a fight scene.

 

I started this thread to illustrate how often it's been used in the series without further derailing the original conversation. The only book I own but couldn't check was Scars because the e-book won't upload to Google Books correctly.

 

AD-B got my point. :wink:

 

It's a perfectly normal phrase construction (if a little inelegant in my opinion*) but it's reused and reused in fight scenes. Graham McNeill uses it the most, as should be obvious from the list, but he's far from alone.

 

* To me, "sway" has connotations of involuntary movement, like swaying while drunk or swaying in the wind.

Soo - they could be swaying trying to dodge the incoming bolter fire :teehee:

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I commented in another thread that Black Library authors ought to be banned from using the phrase "swayed aside" in future, because it's overused to the point of irritating me every time it comes up in a fight scene.

 

I started this thread to illustrate how often it's been used in the series without further derailing the original conversation. The only book I own but couldn't check was Scars because the e-book won't upload to Google Books correctly.

 

AD-B got my point. :wink:

 

It's a perfectly normal phrase construction (if a little inelegant in my opinion*) but it's reused and reused in fight scenes. Graham McNeill uses it the most, as should be obvious from the list, but he's far from alone.

 

* To me, "sway" has connotations of involuntary movement, like swaying while drunk or swaying in the wind.

Soo - they could be swaying trying to dodge the incoming bolter fire :teehee:

That's not swaying. That's dodging. Swaying is a sign of physical weakness under duress, a sudden and momentarily passing lack of equilibrium, almost to the point of falling, but not falling altogether. It's not dodging.

 

Step aside. Weave aside. Sidestep. Pivot. That's a voluntary dodge, based on quick footwork. All from boxing and fencing slang / other sports. Swaying has you on the spot, with a sudden lack of control over your body. You sway when so tired, hungry or drunk that you almost fall, sometimes on the verge of sleep or unconsciousness.

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As I commented in the other thread, I think I noticed the overuse of it more because I listen to the Horus Heresy audiobooks (though I have the first 40 as e-books from the recent Humble Bundle, as well).

 

I find most descriptions of fights fairly tedious to read, when I can and do skim through them at a faster pace, so that tedium is exacerbated when I can only absorb them at the pace of the actor's speech. Because of my ADHD, if I tune out I'll probably get distracted by something else and miss the point where the fight is over, so I have to make myself pay attention. The only way I've found to do that is to think about how the phrases I'm hearing are constructed and performed, so my mind has something to occupy it, which means I notice the repetition of things like "swayed aside" which rub me the wrong way.

 

I also wonder if the audiobook experience accounts for why I don't have the same problems with "filler" novels as some other people. I really liked The Outcast Dead, for instance, and having just started Deathfire today I'm quite pleased to be getting back to both Imperium Secundus and the Salamanders. I didn't really get the point of The Damnation of Pythos until I was close to the end, but ultimately I was really satisfied with the full dimensions of it, especially the coda.

 

Of course, it's also possible that I'm more sanguine about it simply because I'm not even close to being caught up - I have 13 more published books after Deathfire, plus 6 Primarchs novels, plus whatever they put out before I finish listening to those 20 books. Given my ADHD, I'm actually very likely to lose interest in the series temporarily, more than once, before I finish everything they've already published, so I may not catch up before the last book is published.

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For me it was something like "if he noticed, he gave no sign" or permutations of this. William King was the worst offender, imo (in the Slayer series of Gotrek and Felix books - which is Fantasy so I shan't discuss that further here), though I have noticed it in other author's books, too. I know it's just a regular phrase, but I saw it so often in King's books, I just detest the phrase. 

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Wet leopards need banning

Wet leopard growl yada yada. (Or wait - just a dream but how about Imperium ban SW as a whole :yes: )

 

I also have a dislike for the word reverie

 

Too many Astartes have them. I get nightmares about them daydreaming all the time!

Bolter reverie, Chapter Master reverie, Codex Astartes reverie and on and on it spins.

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I also have a dislike for the word reverie

 

Too many Astartes have them. I get nightmares about them daydreaming all the time!

How else are they supposed to know to wake up in the morning?

 

A-khem.

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverie

 

reverie

noun rev·er·ie \ˈre-və-rē, ˈrev-rē\

variants: or less commonly revery

Examples: reverie in a Sentence

 

Definition of reverie

plural reveries

1: daydream

2: the condition of being lost in thought

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reveille

 

reveille

noun rev·eil·le \ˈre-və-lē, British ri-ˈva-lē or -ˈve-\

 

Definition of reveille

1: a signal to get up mornings

2: a bugle call at about sunrise signaling the first military formation of the day; also : the formation so signaled

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I also have a dislike for the word reverie

 

Too many Astartes have them. I get nightmares about them daydreaming all the time!

How else are they supposed to know to wake up in the morning?

 

A-khem.

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverie

 

reverie

noun rev·er·ie \ˈre-və-rē, ˈrev-rē\

variants: or less commonly revery

Examples: reverie in a Sentence

 

Definition of reverie

plural reveries

1: daydream

2: the condition of being lost in thought

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reveille

 

reveille

noun rev·eil·le \ˈre-və-lē, British ri-ˈva-lē or -ˈve-\

 

Definition of reveille

1: a signal to get up mornings

2: a bugle call at about sunrise signaling the first military formation of the day; also : the formation so signaled

 

Heresy ;)

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