In his introduction to a collection of Talking Heads (Series 1), Alan Bennett writes that a television monologue is a "stripped down version of a short story, the style of its telling necessarily austere. 'Said' or 'says' is generally all that is required to introduce reported speech, because whereas the novelist or short story writer has a battery of expressions to chose from ('exclaimed', 'retorted', 'groaned' lisped'), in live narration such terms seem literary and self-conscious."
Live performance is one thing; the written page is another. Unfortunately, some writers and editors frown on the variations that can be used by fiction writers in dialogue. Too many at a stretch do make a piece look silly and draw attention to themselves—even if they don't reach the level of Croakers. Nevertheless, just as strict adherence to the dictum "show, don't tell" becomes an unnecessary, self-imposed strait jacket, so, too, does a rejection of the many different words that can convey shades of meaning. I couldn't think of an illustration for exactly that idea, but how about a pedant? the sort of person who insists on following narrow-minded rules in writing?