Preface
Before reading on, I want to make it clear that I only make this argument for writings of the English language. Although it may apply to others as well, I've learned through the comments below that at least in German and Russian this principle is reversed. So unless you're planning to write in English, you should look to writers of your own language for guidance.
An Argument for Said
When writing dialogue, it is necessary to use dialogue tags, which are the phrases that identify who's speaking. They're pretty easy to recognize once you know what they are. Here are a few examples, with the tags in bold.
"Canoodle is a funny wor