Defining Terms: The Adjective That Just Won’t Go Away!

What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I keep going back to this word?!?! Unconsciously, it creeps into so many of my reviews. I hope to heck that you haven’t noticed it and have been questioning my sanity. Or maybe you thought it was some kind of weird message I was trying to send you??

The idea for this post all started when I went to use ‘stark’ in a recent review and I got to thinking… Hmmm, I think I’ve used this word a couple times. A quick search of my reviews reveals that I’ve used it 10 times (!!!!!). Needless to say, I’m going to put it out to pasture for awhile. But I have to ask if any of my fellow bloggers have had this happen? Have you found yourself going back to the well too many times on words and/or phrases? Below are all the instances of ‘stark.’ Enjoy! Ha!!!

Once in space, the self-proclaimed alpha male and his stark arrogance pushes the crew in uncomfortable directions. And the girl in charge of documenting their travels breaks down and can’t move from bed for weeks…

The stark voice of a young man who desires for a feeling of racial integrity after his world and family are stripped away and America remains, staring directly at him.

From the vivid imaginations to the gulls diving to the sea, Chabouté stark black and white drawings grip and pull the reader.

Kupperman’s drawings are stark black and white arrangements of facts and personal impressions of a son’s inquiry.

Searching for a direction to go after high school and experiencing stark isolation and cliques at Church Camp.

It is populated with thought-provoking voices that are brimming with dark humor, eternal hope, and still others with stark, religious furor.

The author was only 13 years old at the time of the move, but he knew enough of the Japanese way of life to see the stark realities he faced in Korea.

In a fight that had been brewing for years, a stark utterance causes a wife to leave her husband and children.

At the heart of it is Mischa, a young woman who feels the pressure of her mother’s expectations and the stark judgement of her peers.