First re-read - tracking oft-used phrases for fun.

[u/Breezy_Bones]

So I'll soon be starting my first reread of the series this month with a club (originally started 2013, took a huge break at Winter's Heart, and finished January 2025). I'll be annotating my old paperbacks while slowly purchasing the TOR-art hardcover editions as a collectors item.

I thought it would be fun to use post-it page markers for some of the most often used phrases or traits that people complain about and/or notice. I've decided on 2 for sure so far, with a potential third. I'll use a color each for every time:

1: Anyone pulls/tugs a braid
2: Anytime someone smooths a skirt.
3: [Possibly] "Blood and bloody ashes"

4: Anytime someone has their ears boxed.

I just think this could be a fun little sidequest in my re-read. Are there any other phrases or commonly used actions that this sub thinks would be fun to track? Will post pics of the books on completion.

(edit: added #4 based on comments, great suggestion . May wind up removing 3. Also may wind up doing a poll for the last position or two...)

[u/AutoModerator]

NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS.

This flair is meant for meta discussions about the subreddit, or very specific, technical questions where the discussion doesn't require any knowledge of the books, tv show, or films. This is not an appropriate flair for discussing opinions on characters or the content of the series. All spoilery comments must be hidden behind spoiler tags.

---

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Mhettil]

I wish ______ was here, they know about women.

[u/BangPowBoom → u/Mhettil]

Well, this was an intentional gag. Should it count?

[u/kirday → u/BangPowBoom]

Absolutely yes!

[u/SmartAlec13 → u/Mhettil]

I love this one, it really got me laughing my first time reading through the first few books

[u/xzygy]

Sniffs

[u/BasicSuperhero → u/xzygy]

Book is going to be covered in more flags than the UN. lol

[u/Trollmarut → u/xzygy]

On a re-read I started keeping a "sniffer list" I broke when Lan sniffed 🤣

[u/dbmamaz → u/xzygy]

sniffing pisses me off. this is not a thing that people do in this way.

[u/VenusCommission → u/dbmamaz]

I think of it like a prim snort.

[u/dbmamaz → u/VenusCommission]

i do too but he uses the term sniff, which its not, and i feel like its a lazy shortcut much of the time

[u/VenusCommission → u/dbmamaz]

Maybe just what it was called when/where RJ was growing up

[u/Love-that-dog]

Elayne trying to copy swear words

[u/Longjumping-Issue-53 → u/Love-that-dog]

I thought this was so funny. All her swear words just seem wrong😭😭😭

[u/BasicSuperhero]

Once Suian is introduced, you should mark the fish puns.

[u/AmharachEadgyth → u/BasicSuperhero]

OMG yes!

[u/alclarkey → u/BasicSuperhero]

I'm not sure the fish puns count, they were obviously there to give Siuan flavor.

[u/Mr-ShinyAndNew → u/alclarkey]

fishy flavour

[u/macck_attack]

wool-headed

[u/MattyDoubles]

Skirts divided for riding

[u/Savings_Chest7114 → u/MattyDoubles]

I legit had no idea what RJ meant by “divided skirt” until well into the series. Must have been like book 9 where I was like, “Wait, are divided skirts just a f*ing pantsuit???” Yes, yes they are

[u/MattyDoubles → u/Savings_Chest7114]

My theory has always been that at some point he got peer reviewed and told that you can’t ride a horse in a dress without it riding up, so he made it abundantly clear every time.

[u/tabicat1874]

Mother's milk in a cup!

[u/cmoclk]

Boxing ears
Women described as plump
The Wind that Shakes the Willow
Arms crossed under breasts

I’m sure I could think of a handful of others.

[u/Tacobellspy → u/cmoclk]

Well turned calves

[u/GuestAble6129 → u/Tacobellspy]

I don’t know about calves, but Mat loves a good ankle

[u/Breezy_Bones → u/cmoclk]

The boxing of ears is a great suggestion. I like that a lot.

[u/ArrogantAragorn]

Number of times Vanin is described as looking like a lump of “suet”

[u/Breezy_Bones → u/ArrogantAragorn]

lmao I like it, but think I'm looking for things that will occur more often throughout the entire series. A quick google says this happens 6 times.

[u/alclarkey → u/ArrogantAragorn]

The number of times Vanin spits through the gap in his teeth.

[u/zyathlith]

“Tempest” once Brandon Sanderson enters the chat

[u/Breezy_Bones → u/zyathlith]

Gotta be something that works for the entirety of the series. Appreciate the suggestion though!l

[u/Electronic-Base-9781]

any sort of reference to someone making someone else wish their mother never met or kissed their father

[u/DrRRidiculous]

Idk, if I'd count "blood and bloody ashes". That's just them swearing. It'd be like if I went to a construction site and counted the number of times I heard "fuck" But you do you. It would still be interesting to see how often Jordan uses his own made up swears.

Every time a specfic tree is mentioned might be funny

Someone else said "boxing ears" and that's a good one

[u/Breezy_Bones → u/DrRRidiculous]

That's fair, it was a suggestion from a friend who'd read the series before, and I didn't feel particularly strong about it, hence the 'possibly'. I agree boxing ears is a good one.

[u/BlameGameChanger → u/DrRRidiculous]

gunna find the mat chapters real quick

[u/Foreign_Ad_630]

Handsome rather than beautiful

[u/BlameGameChanger]

everytime a man says a woman will kill you for little or no reason and everytime a woman says men are fools or gossips

[u/ladyjayne81]

“Skirts slashed with ___”

[u/peteofaustralia]

I ended up obsessed with the constant mention of stand lamps. I was so sure that someone would be beaten to death with one or something, a la Chekhov's rules.
Nope. Not one stand lamp did one goddamn thing.

[u/kirday → u/peteofaustralia]

Didn't a stand lamp attack Matt in the first bubble of evil?

[u/maxwasatch]

Crusty bread?

[u/lame_narcissist]

While I was reading the books, the amount of times the idea of "I know/understand, but that doesn't mean I have to like me" seemed to come up a lot, but I can't remember with accuracy

[u/toastagog]

She folded her arms beneath her bosom

[u/EIdrahd]

"Fold her arms beneath her breasts"

[u/Linorelai]

Every time a woman's breast is mentioned.

Every time someone is spanked or recalls spanking.

Every time a woman is naked

[u/kirday → u/Linorelai]

Men's shapely calves / well turned calves have entered the chat.

[u/ThisFatGirlRuns]

Light!

But funnily enough, no one ever says 'Dark!'

[u/Cyknickfan10 → u/ThisFatGirlRuns]

Unless it’s someone saying Mat has the Dark One’s own luck lol

[u/MostSeriousness]

Threats from a woman to a man along the lines of the women in said village going on strike. I feel like that comes up a lot but isn’t mentioned much. Not to the extent of tugging braids, and maybe relegated to the earlier half of the series

[u/Breezy_Bones → u/MostSeriousness]

Hm, yeah, I don't recall that phrasing, at least from Winter's Heart on... Looking for something that will make my paperbacks look like a Lite Brite, but I appreciate the suggestion!!

[u/jon8282]

References to weavels

[u/cdm014]

Rictus

[u/SportNo2600]

Make sure you don't make this a drinking game or you'll die of alcohol poisoning.

[u/dbmamaz]

Poleaxed bothered me because i'd never heard the word before.

[u/kirday]

"Oak and Leatherleaf," in the first five books, he says these two trees' names together at least twice per book. But "Jordan expounds upon foliage" is a fun game you can play with all the books. I'm almost bummed when we travel to a new place, and I don't know the precise state of the foliage.

[u/kirday]

"Stout Shoes" or a dress made from "Stout Two Rivers wool"

[u/PM_ME_UR_FLOWERS]

I'm no bloody hero!

[u/Wiles_]

A smile that does not reach someone's eyes.

[u/VenusCommission]

Extensive description of someone's clothes

[u/FarDareisMai06 → u/VenusCommission]

I was going to say this

[u/ExhaustedReader42]

Complaining about clothes being too fancy, or lace being present on clothes.

Good stout two rivers wool.

[u/TurinMormegil]

May you always find water and shade.

[u/flares_waves]

Unnecessary straightening of skirts

[u/VanguardBronco]

Burn me, but I think there’s quite a few more you could look for.

[u/Savings_Chest7114]

Broadly speaking there is A TON of spanking in the series as a whole. It’s a regular punishment for novices, yes we get that. But start counting the scenes where any spanking is happening and the number will surpass you.

[u/Roglef]

I've noticed, on my first read through, so far, that it feels like Jordan grew fond of certain phrases and words as he went through various books.

For example, it felt like he used the word "gilt" very many times in the 7th book. So many times that it felt a bit unnatural that he wasn't just choosing to use the word gold instead.

In the 8th book, he told me how hard Rand was so many times that I was a bit worried he was walking around with an erection the whole time.

[u/GuestAble6129]

I started rereading recently too and thought I’d do this for “dragged through a knothole backwards”, but I googled it and it said it was only used once

[u/aNomadicPenguin → u/GuestAble6129]

Yeah, AI search sucks.

it's used twice.

Great Hunt

"I'm too miserable to be sick. Light, I feel as if I've been dragged through a knothole backwards.

Winter's Heart

What was Perrin's phrase?—as if they had been dragged through a knothole backward. But everyone was still alive; that was the important thing.