Mastodawn

What in blazes is an "arborwright"???

If he's a woodworker, why not say that? My first thought was "this guy works with entire trees, does he? Shaping them from saplings? Oh, no . . . he's a woodworker."

This penchant for coining nonce words (they'll not appear outside this book or perhaps the series) is maddening. We have so many cromulent words already! USE THEM!

::deep breaths:: Ropesman. Assemblageman. (Not "assemblyman." This is a wholly different context.) More I can't recall at present.

::more deep breaths::

#AmEditing #DevelopmentalCritique

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Karen Conlin 20h ago

Pursuant to this:

I looked for "woodworker" in a reverse dictionary. If you've never used one, I suggest you give it a try. Fascinating, and more useful than racking your brain paging through a standard dictionary.

There's even one online.

https://reversedictionary.org/wordsfor/woodworker

The second result (after "cabinetmaker," which I discarded for my purposes) is "woodwright." There's no definition within the reverse dictionary database, but it suggests "try an internet search." Of course, that works a treat.

Poking further, we get to "timberwright," one who specializes in structural woodworking like framing. That's not the definition for this usage, though, so I'm back to "woodwright." One who builds custom objects or effects repairs to wooden items.

So many wonderful words! Why create another one that's unclear?

#AmEditing #Diction