Don’t splutter. Just say

On the beauty of a beautiful speech tag

There is this four-letter word in English that many of us are severely allergic to — and no, this one doesn’t start with ‘F’.

‘Said’ is the word in question. The one we brush aside when we attribute direct speech.

It is too simple for us, too common. Where is plain plebeian Said when compared to alleged, argued, articulated, averred, claimed, disclosed, declared, held, offered, opined, stated, and pronounced? And the ‘action-packed’ laughed, grimaced, cried, sputtered, spat, and spewed?

“Said,” a reporter claimed, “is okay when you are attributing for the first time. But you can’t keep saying ‘said, said’ all the time. The copy will become repetitive and monotonous.”

“Said,” disclosed another, “is too bland. It doesn’t say anything.”

Precisely. Said is neutral. And that is its beauty.

A long time ago I remember reading a clipping my then editor-in-chief — an elephantine gentleman with an elephantine memory for the published word — passed around. It, well, said Said is a writer’s best friend, and when a reporter uses anything other than Said, he is poking his nose in, colouring the quote.