I had a English professor who would roll her eyes at students who said "interesting" when discussing reading assignments: "I think this passage is so interesting " or "This poem is more interesting than the others" or what have you. She'd needle the students with "What does that even mean?" It's lost its meaning, the accusation goes; it's vacuous, it offers no substance, it does little if any work, and so on. Before writing this post, I reflected on this word's problems over on Twitter . The trouble is finding good alternatives, which has baffled me in the past, likely because I hadn't really bothered to figure it all out. As such, I decided to blog about it! It's important to note that it isn't necessarily wrong to say "interesting." It's just better to avoid it if one can. I still use it now and then in conversation, and I'm sure you will, too, even after reading this post. It signals wha...