Tae

I had a knock-down, drag-out argument about using 'said' with my English 102 professor last year. He only ever used 'said,' because it blends well into the background and doesn't confuse your readers by making them figure out the mood your aiming for, or something. My Creative Writing professor was a big proponent of using whatever words you needed to express what you were trying to express, so we got along well.

I don't understand why we need to dumb down our writing. If you wanna read a mystery novel, but don't understand the words the author is using, get a dictionary and expand your freaking vocabulary.