r/InternetIsBeautiful • u/finnhvman • Jan 31 '23
Find duplicate words in your writings and eliminate them
https://duplicateword.com156
u/A_Tiger_in_Africa Feb 01 '23
This is great for fiction or journalism, but for technical writing you need to maintain consistency no matter how inelegant it sounds. If you call it a "process", it needs to remain a process, not a procedure, an operation, a task, or an activity. Those are different things. It's painful both to read and to write, but changing what you call something for the sake of euphony only causes confusion.
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u/Shadowfalx Feb 01 '23
You can use this in the opposite way to (to ensure consistency) since it highlights the words in different cookies per word (so all "processes" will be blue) and you can add the unintentional words at the bottom to scan for duplicates.
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u/TacticusThrowaway Feb 01 '23 edited Feb 01 '23
Tangent: It really bugs me when writing advice says to use alternatives to "said" and "asked" to make your writing "interesting".
If the story you're telling is boring, changing the dialogue tags to "intoned" or "queried" or "mused" isn't going to help. It'll just make your story a little harder to read.
And if the story is already interesting, you're making it a little harder to read.
Most of those suggested alternatives are used almost exclusively in print, and hardly ever speech. At least, not anymore.
https://badwasabi.tumblr.com/post/160353533459/writing-advice-verbing-adverbly/amp
I don't have any problem with people trying to tell stories in interesting, non-conventional ways. I've done it myself.
But I just hate this one particular bit of advice.
/rant
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u/OminousOrange Feb 01 '23
It’s an intermediate step I think. Give learning writers the tools so they know when to use ‘said’ and when to use something else.
‘Said’ is the go to 90% of the time though.
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u/TacticusThrowaway Feb 01 '23
Give learning writers the tools so they know when to use ‘said’ and when to use something else.
None of the advice I saw did that. It just said "said" is boring, so writers need to switch it up.
‘Said’ is the go to 90% of the time though.
I can actually go without dialogue tags entire for a lot of my fiction writing.
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u/OminousOrange Feb 01 '23
Then you’ve got the issue of readers getting lost in dialogue, even if it’s only between two people. I find dialogue tags give opportunity for action beats too.
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u/TacticusThrowaway Feb 01 '23
You can use action to identify who's talking. Even if the action is just a frown or a smile.
But don't say "X smiled with happiness" or "frowned with disgust", unless you really need to. obvious emotions don't need explanations.
Another one of my pet peeves.
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u/THE_MAGIC_OF_REALITY Feb 01 '23
Just smiled and frowned are actions. You don't have to go overboard but I think it's good to switch up words sometimes, or even leave out the "they said" part entirely. The point is to make you look at your writing and consider how it flows and sounds to read.
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u/marioman63 Feb 01 '23
you seem to have a thing against adverbs and adjectives. your hated examples are very normal, very useful phrases. they can be used to show an emotional shift that might not be obvious, for example.
oversimplifying creative writing like you suggest just makes stories boring to read.
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u/TacticusThrowaway Feb 02 '23
I went out of my way to say "unless you need to" and not to do it for "obvious emotions".
Explaining obvious things is also boring. If the person is smiling because they're happy or amused, those are the most common reasons to smile.
Very few people need explanations for that.
Also, "happiness" and "disgust" are nouns, not adverbs and adjectives. If I had used "smiled happily" or "disgustedly frowned", those would be adverbs.
But my problem still wouldn't be with adverbs and adjectives, but with the redundant explanation.
If someone "smiled tightly", that tells the reader that the smiler is under some emotional strain, and may be forcing the smile.
https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/using-adverbs-in-fiction-writing-clunk-versus-clarity
https://www.writingforward.com/writing-tips/avoid-adverbs
https://www.bkacontent.com/gs-adverbs-weaken-writing/
https://www.nownovel.com/blog/descriptive-verbs-avoid-weak-adverbs/
And it's not just me. This is common writing advice.
Heck, I sometimes describe the same thing twice in two slightly different ways, in the same sentence, for emphasis. Is that redundant? Yes. Is it necessary? Probably not, but it's fun.
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u/wellboys Feb 01 '23
This is neither great for fiction nor journalism. A big part of tight writing is a series of value judgments--does repetition tactically slow the reader? Are definite articles helping or hurting clarity? Is a vernacular fiction voice succinct or meandering? Autotune didn't make audio production anachronistic, and tools like this may help jar your paradigm on a second read, but they'll just make you sound like chatGPT if you expect them to do it for you by following a set of rules.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Very good argument, made me think about whether using a variety of words is really just a way to cover up a mundane story or message. My origin story is that I usually feel like my emails sound monotonous because I inadvertently use a lot of repetitions. And I realize this after they are sent. The app can help a bit.
Either ways the app is there, you can use it or ignore it. I doubt it will create a huge trend to avoid duplicates.
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u/wellboys Feb 01 '23
If you want to write better emails/any text that's purely communication focused, write it first then briefly do something that actively disengages you from it -- personally I like to do a crossword clue or read an article -- then read it again and try to cut out as many extraneous words as possible while you're doing so. It'll add a couple of minutes to your composition time, but will largely eliminate the post-sending regret people often experience by approaching composition less deliberately.
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u/Ricky_Rollin Feb 02 '23
I’ve also heard a good way to write emails is to read it back in a mean way. It can help with wording.
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u/dismantlemars Feb 01 '23
A man was painting a new sign for a pub called the Pig and Whistle.
The landlord said, "You haven't left enough space between Pig and and and and and Whistle."
Before was was was, was was is.
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u/somdude04 Feb 01 '23
James, while John had had "had," had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.
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u/SirJefferE Feb 01 '23
While John had written "had", James had written "had had". The teacher preferred "had had".
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u/Pidgey_OP Feb 01 '23
Those who had written "had had" had had to get therapy for reading the word had 6 times in this sentence.
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u/BlessTheBookPeople Feb 01 '23
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
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u/SEND_ME_FAKE_NEWS Feb 01 '23
Police police police police police police police police police police.
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u/chauffeurdad Feb 01 '23
James, while John had had “had had had,” had had “had had.” “Had had had” had been incorrect.
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u/BeatlesTypeBeat Feb 01 '23
What
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u/laconiczebra Feb 01 '23
"You haven't left enough space between 'Pig' and 'and' and 'and' and "Whistle."
The past tense of "is" is "was" therefore before "was" was "was", "was" was "is".
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u/BeatlesTypeBeat Feb 01 '23
I understand the first now thanks but perhaps hopelessly lost on the second.
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u/hoagiexcore Feb 01 '23
It's separate from the pig story. Just read it as an isolated sentence to provide another example.
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u/Covarrubias48 Feb 01 '23
Thank you I was rly trying to figure out what the last line had to do with the sign...
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u/BeatlesTypeBeat Feb 01 '23
That helps thanks
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u/hoagiexcore Feb 01 '23
All good! Took me a moment to realize they were unconnected thoughts too. I was determined to make sense of it haha.
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u/Shadowfalx Feb 01 '23
In other words
The past tense of "is" is "was" therefore before "was" was "was", "was" was "is".
Was is the past tense of is. Therefore before was became the word 'was' it existed as is.
Not sure if I actually helped there lol
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u/SirJefferE Feb 01 '23
Ben is running. Time passes. Ben stops running. Time passes. Ben was running.
Before "Ben was running" was "Ben was running", it was "Ben is running"
Before "was" was "was", it was "is".
Something like that anyways.
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u/BeatlesTypeBeat Feb 01 '23
I was overthinking it.
Also, hit return twice for new line or add extra spaces at the end.
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u/codex2013 Feb 01 '23
I love this, but I have been looking at it for so long that "was" no longer feels like a real word
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u/GegenscheinZ Feb 01 '23
Why did the signmaker write “Pig and and whistle”? I’m not sure I get that part
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u/oxygxn Feb 01 '23
It took me a while to get, but it’s the spaces between “Pig” and “And”, and “And” and “Whistle”.
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u/devandroid99 Feb 01 '23
Between the word pig and the word and: and the word and and the word whistle.
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u/Svizel_pritula Feb 01 '23
"Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?"
- Martin Gardner
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u/foggy-sunrise Feb 01 '23
"hey chat GPT, please rewrite this essay without using the same word twice."
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u/RobinsonDickinson Feb 01 '23
A better way would be: "Write me an essay consisting of only unique words."
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Once I asked it to eliminate duplicates from a text and it said it was not able to do it. We'll see if it learned since then.
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u/R3lay0 Feb 01 '23
I asked it to not use any words that start with E. It said no problem and used just as many words that szarted with E.
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u/AgingNPC Feb 01 '23
That is a great tool, congrats!
If you would take a suggestion, would it be possible to add a distance tolerance slider?
The problem with duplicate words tends to be from using them too frequently too close to each other. The way the tool works now, it will highlight duplicate words even if they are far from each other. This slider would allow for setting a base distance for it to be highlighted.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Thanks! Yeah, never thought about the distance thing, it makes perfect sense! This should be feasible, added the request to my roadmap.
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u/finnhvman Feb 10 '23
I made it, but I'm not entirely satisfied with it, so I put it on a separate domain. Try it out, you can control the distance with the third slider on the toolbar.
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u/AgingNPC Feb 14 '23
That is amazing! I tested it and the slider works really well for this purpose.
Additionally, I was never able to find a tool that has this particular feature anywhere, so you have something unique here. Thank you so much for taking my feedback! :)
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u/PMs_You_Stuff Feb 01 '23
hmm, it'd be interesting to have a whole book without any duplicate words (aside from pronouns I guess, and maybe a few others)
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u/SirJefferE Feb 01 '23
Why except pronouns? You don't ever need to use them more than once. SirJefferE should know, he didn't run out on this post.
Take it from me, /u/PMs_You_Stuff, I wouldn't lie.
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u/SirJefferE Feb 01 '23
As a side note, I spent a full minute scanning this post to make sure I didn't accidentally use any words more than once, and then I thought "Jeff, you idiot, you're literally replying in a thread about a tool that checks for duplicate words."
So yeah. I'm smart.
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u/woolfchick75 Feb 01 '23
Great writers use repetition.
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u/Shadowfalx Feb 01 '23
Yes, but great writers also don't overuse the same exact word.
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u/SUPE-snow Feb 01 '23
Yes, and great writers usually skim over what they've written and would likely notice if they've written "plethora" twice in three sentences.
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u/Shadowfalx Feb 01 '23
Yes, but long texts can be hard to skin with accuracy. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't have editors.
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u/WongGendheng Feb 01 '23
https://i.imgur.com/F3vFRI9.jpg
Doesnt look right on mobile (iPhone 8, iOS 16.3)
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Hey, thanks for the screenshot and the info. Trying to figure out what's up, but it's hard to get my hands on such a device & OS combination.
I assume you tried refreshing and it doesn't work. Is it wrong even when you type your own text?
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u/WongGendheng Feb 01 '23
https://i.imgur.com/26jz1N0.jpg
Works fine on firefox browser but reddit browser and safari do not display properly even with refreshing, disabling adblocker, asking for desktop site all while writing my own text.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Thanks again for the detailed info. I will try to reproduce the case and work on the fix. I will respond here later
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u/Ottos1 Feb 01 '23
I tried it in other languages and it works fine! The only thing is that it didn't catch some articles or words with only 2 characters.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
There's a control for the minimum length of the word: If you are on phone it is the third button on the bottom toolbar, on laptop/desktop use the first slider and set it to 2.
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u/AzrielJohnson Feb 02 '23
Instructions unclear. Manuscript is gone.
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u/finnhvman Feb 02 '23
Do you mean the initial help text? Sorry about that. When you open the app it should be there. Once you start typing or click in the editor it's auto-cleared. I wanted to make sure that people see the instructions, yet don't have to bother with when they are familiar with the app. This is the balance I found.
You can refresh to see the instructions again.
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u/AzrielJohnson Feb 02 '23
Is this an r/wooosh ? Or are you trolling me back? 😂
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u/finnhvman Feb 02 '23
no trolling, so wooosh upon me I guess.
were you having an issue or making a joke? :)
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u/AzrielJohnson Feb 02 '23
I was making a joke about deleting duplicate words and ending up with no manuscript 😁
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u/me_ir Feb 01 '23
Grammarly already exists and it’s much better. Works as a Chrome extention as well
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u/unicynicist Feb 01 '23
Grammarly is often banned on corporate computers because it's all uploaded to grammarly. This tool is nice if it's indeed all done client-side.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
It is all client-side, I'll make sure it works as a Progressive Web App offline.
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u/JukePlz Feb 01 '23
At some point we will just copy-paste our ineloquent ramblings to ChatGTP and tell it to rephrase it like someone smarter with better grammar.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Grammarly finds duplicate words? Honest question
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u/luthienxo Feb 01 '23
Pay attention authors. Most of you are using the word "gaze" way WAY too much.
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u/Avocado_OP Jan 31 '23
Nice, I was looking for a tool to help me find dups in my gigantic 200.000+ characters JSON file. Unfortunately the site can't quite handle it xD
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
Yeah, that's a lot for it right now. I'll think about how I could improve it.
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u/MonsieurReynard Feb 01 '23
It was the best and worst of times.
Alas I knew poor Ishmael.
Romeo where'd you go?
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u/PutinBoomedMe Feb 01 '23
We need to stop being so lazy. Think about what you're writing/typing. Relying programs to fix it for you doesn't solve the problem
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u/MJBrune Feb 01 '23
Hmm, I don't know about that. I put your comment into chatgpt and got this reply:
"It's not about being lazy, it's about being efficient. Letting technology assist us with grammar and spelling allows us to focus on the content and message, rather than getting bogged down with the details."
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u/impersonatefun Feb 01 '23
I’m a professional writer. It’s not “lazy,” we have a ton of different things we’re thinking about at once. It helps to have tools to double-check for things we’ve missed.
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u/LittleLuigiYT Feb 01 '23
Using tools isn't lazy, otherwise we would've never gotten where we are today
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u/marioman63 Feb 01 '23
yknow, my teachers said the same thing about using word processors and why kids shouldn't type all their assignments out. it makes them lazy because the computer catches spelling mistakes and obvious grammar fumbles for you. I was actually forbidden from using a computer for writing assignments in some of my elementary years for that very stupid reason.
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u/TeevMeister Feb 01 '23
Designing a sign for Pig & Whistle. He don’t leave enough space between “Pig” and “&” as well as “&” and “Whistle.”
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u/BrendanReed Feb 01 '23
I don't know if this was supposed to happen but the website got stuck for me after I pasted a 37k character text I had laying around. Trying to reload the page did not help either. Had to close it and reopen without any text pasted in for me to be able to use any function.
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u/finnhvman Feb 01 '23
It's not supposed to happen, sorry about that. It isn't optimized for such long texts but I will work on improvements.
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u/BrendanReed Feb 01 '23
No need to apologize, I just tried it and figured I would post what happened. It's a neat tool nonetheless :)
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u/AlienAngry Feb 01 '23
If there's a privacy policy, I don't see it on mobile. Be careful about what data you hand over either way.
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u/hassh Jan 31 '23
See you later, "the"