He said, She said.

"James Blish told me I had the worst case

of "said bookism" (that is, using every word

except said to indicate dialogue). He told me

to limit the verbs to said, replied, asked and answered

and only when absolutely necessary."

---Anne McCaffrey

 

According to my Thursday devotional (again, a little behind this week), describing how a person is saying something too often can be distracting.  As a reader, I have to agree.  I much prefer dialogue that goes from one person speaking to the next without descriptive paragraphs interrupting the flow too often.  I'll have to keep that in mind for my own writing.