*snerk* Well, imprecise epithets are problematic, I'll agree. (Although Blake or Tarrant frequently sorts itself out according to who's aboard right now, and Jenna and Calla... whoops, sorry, got distracted by your icon, didn't I?)

As for epithets like "brunette boy", I'd be jumping up and down and saying "brunet" not "brunette" in that instance and not worrying about the pov character depending on how close focus the view is. First person? The speaker better be comparing one boy with brown hair to another with blond hair. (And possibly fixating on their follicles.) But third person omniscient? I'm a lot more forgiving.

In Holmes fandom we get the "doctor" and the "detective" a lot, but neither really bothers me, seeing as ACD used epithets in descriptions of events fairly often. Do I want them used constantly? Only for effect. But now and then is no biggie if names are used the majority of the time.

And, since I write a lot of drabbles, there is much I'll forgive for the sake of word count.

Ah, well, we all have things that scrape against our nerves! (Breath vs. breathe? Hoard vs. horde? Watch my head spin!) But it's fun to debate.