This is the advice Robin Williams had for his classroom of boys in Dead Poet’s Society:
“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavour, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”
Here are some substitutes for the word ‘very’.
Sound advice, methinks. Hope you find it useful. I know they teach all this stuff to us in Primary School, but it’s worth a reminder.
Libby Sommer, Author 
I love that film and its message. Robin Williams surely caught his audience.
miriam
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yes, fabulous movie. so so sad that Robin Williams is no longer with us. such talent.
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I so agree with you Libby.
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Excellent!
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Perfect timing. It sounds like it should be easy to ratchet up the power of a word but it isn’t. Thanks for this.
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yes, Jacqui, often hard to find the perfect word. thank goodness for the thesaurus.
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“Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women”
I got a kick out of that, Libby. Then I got kicked again a minute or two later by the memory of a theory in the evolutionary sciences. Namely, that language evolved out of mating calls.
Here’s my question. Were you referring to the theory when you crafted the witticism?
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dear Paul, i would love to take credit for the quote, but it comes from the movie. glad it gave you food for thought.
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