Found a weird detail about dialogue tags in old novels that blew my mind

I was digging through an old writing manual from the 1920s last weekend at a used bookstore in Portland. It had a whole section claiming you should never use anything but 'said' or 'asked' in dialogue tags, which I thought was just a modern rule. But then I flipped to a random chapter in a 1910 novel they had on the shelf, and I counted 47 instances of 'he ejaculated' used as a tag. Not kidding, they actually used that word all the time back then for sudden outbursts. It made me realize how much language shifts over time and how weird our current rules might sound 100 years from now. Has anyone else stumbled on a crazy old writing convention that made you rethink your own style?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_daniel1mo ago

I mean, 47 times in one book? Sounds like you found a weird exception more than a rule. People back then probably thought that sounded normal just like we don't blink at 'he said softly' or whatever. Idk if this one old manual is gonna make me rewrite my whole style.

nathan2891mo agoMost Upvoted

Haha yeah honestly I might just be trying to justify my own lazy writing habits. I'm the kind of writer who will use 'nodded' forty times in a scene because I can't think of another way to show someone agreeing. Pretty sure my beta readers have a drinking game for every time a character 'just nodded' or 'raised an eyebrow.' But you're right, if that old style manual is an outlier I probably shouldn't toss my whole toolbox out. Still, it makes me wonder if we're all just repeating what we grew up reading without thinking about it. You ever catch yourself copying some weird phrase from a book you read as a kid and then realize it sounds totally unnatural in your own work?