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I have seen arguments from both sides of the debate about the word ‘said’.

One school of thought says “said is dead”. People on this side tend to be against the use of the word ‘said’, preferring to use descriptive dialogue tags such as ‘explained’, ‘shouted’, ‘pouted’, ‘whispered’, ‘fretted’, and so on.

The other school of thought appreciates the word ‘said’, with the appropriate pronouns, as a useful dialogue tag. They believe it can and should be used as often as possible to help readers track the conversation.

Apparently, there is middle ground (where I and several of my acquaintance tend to fall), in which the reader or writer does not mind the word ‘said’ in books. That being said (hah), these believe ‘said’ ought not to be used in every line of dialogue, and agree there is some opportunity to use creative words to express vocal sound.

As a reader and writer, what do you think? Are there others sides of this debate?