from “presence of SIPs in some ways really is evidence of stereotyped phrasing in writing.” to ” presence of SIPs … is evidence of stereotyped phrasing in writing despite avoidance of the most common cliches.”

let us hope this feature is never pg-13ed.

arc – no.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged: pull peddlers, furnace foreman
(hm, not so good.) The Fountainhead adds “drafting room” and Anthem brings “our brother men”. And We the Living’s “ragged gray uniforms”

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon: grand wazir, substitution alphabet, data haven, hive mind, dive plan, making license plates, strange information, main vault, math whizzes

And Google and Amazon between them may manage to tell us.

Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror:
biblical impurity, incest dread, impure opposition, primal repression, phobic object, pure signifier, symbolic law, paternal function

And I really must read Mary Douglas to find out what that Pangolin cult was all about..

The Education of Henry Adams: diplomatic education, accidental education, supersensual chaos, larger synthesis, rebel agents

John Barleycorn, Jack London: salmon boat, oyster pirates, night coal, long sickness, desire for alcohol

Origin of Species, Charles Darwin: temperate productions, genera descended, transitional gradations, unknown progenitor, fossiliferous formations, our domestic breeds, modified offspring, doubtful forms, closely allied forms, profitable variations, enormously remote, transitional grades, very distinct species, mongrel offspring, and, of course, diversified habits (a nice indication of his annoyance with Lamarck)

The SIPs for The Descent of Man aren’t as indicative of the larger argument: more beautiful males, colour from the females, rivalry with other males, build concealed nests, stridulating organs, from some lower form, build open nests, anthropomorphous apes

adore hashed brown potatoes, such caca, clicks his tongue, three noses, invisible crowd, upstage center, invisible guests, such cascades, general factotum

old gash, old junky, his cock, sick morning

you higher men, lust after eternity, voluntary beggar, wretched contentment, fire hound, famous wise men, ass festival, great noon, nuptial ring, wild wisdom, poisonous flies, great nausea, stillest hour, old tablets, ugliest man, final sin, higher man, old pope, old magician

Brilliant.

In a non-fiction book, you may get certain phrases which repeat themselves because of the nature of the work, but looking at some fiction that was indexed by amazon, it seemed that a large number of SIPs was indicative of poor writing style. I kind of think that this may also apply to non-fiction, where poor writing is much more common.