It's one of my gripes with modern literature, the disavowal of the simple said. Now there are times when it's not necessary, a conversation is volleying back and forth, or you're got a small number of clearly recognisable conversants, or you've somehow through your ninja writing skills imbued your characters with such personalities that they're recognizable each and every time they open their mouth.
But other times, just tell me who said what. When you're reading, you elide the said anyway (if you trick your brain into seeing, they're tedious though, but in reality, your brain will skip all the said whoevers so there's no need to be scared to use them).
"We not going to get this back in," said Sarah, holding his dripping kidney.
"Not so good at Operation now, are we?"
Of course, it goes the other way, and authors who are scared of the humble verb to say, instead start either try desperately to find alternatives. These do stick.
"That's a terrible job," Mr May ejaculated.
"Oh, you've gotten it everywhere!" Mrs May angrily remarked. "There's paint all over the carpet."
That's stepping back into the literature badlands. If someone is angry and you're using conversation, then the words should express the anger, not an adverb.
