I was pleased to read here that I'm not alone in taking against certain words, even though I suspect, given the date, that the whole article may simply be a joke. Certainly it is not a joke for me that, if someone uses 'moist' - I remember a young man I'd earlier thought quite attractive referred to something we'd just eaten as a 'moist meal', and this, along with the rather effete way in which he picked up his chicken bones and gnawed at them, (yes, it is possible to be effete and gnaw), made me decide he wasn't attractive after all (such is the ephemeral nature of romantic love) - I have generally concluded that they are a bit 'wet' in the non-moist sense.
We're not talking here about annoying, overused words, but words that provoke an emotional reaction, words that make you wince. In the same kind of way, I shudder slightly at most shortenings eg 'veggies'. I, along with many others, judging by this article, can't stand 'panties'. I used to hate 'slacks', which the headmistress of my boarding school used to tell us we could wear on special occasions, thus putting me off trousers for a long, long time.
What do you think? What are the words that elicit an involuntary shudder in you?
Involuntary shudder? I'm all for creative freedom - I've been known to invent words when I can't find what I want on the shelf - but the current craze for 'verbing nouns'raises my hackles. Sometimes, slipped in artfully, it works, but mostly it interrupts the flow with an ugly word that reveals only writer ego - example from a newspaper (nameless because it is usually of a high standard)- "...crowbarring it open..". Maybe I'm an over-fastidious old fuddy-duddy.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind crowbarring too much, as its use seems to somehow echo its meaning eg the writer is using a crowbar on the language to wrestle a new word into the language. Or possibly I'm just feeling benign today. I do agree with you on the verbing noun thing in general, so it may well be a rare case of me being full of sweetness and light. If so, it's unlikely to last long.
DeleteI wince at the use of uni for university and the word Nana for Grandma. Loads of other cringe words but these are the worst.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, and uni's spread from Australia to England - via Neighbours, according to someone I know.
Deletegusset
ReplyDeleteI recommend that you go to Berggasse 19, Wien and instead of going up the stairs to the museum, retrace your steps to No. 17 and visit the street level Cafe Freud. You will soon overcome your inhibitions re 'gusset', via the daily happy hour between 5 and 6 pm.
DeleteI have long lost the battle, but I've never got used to "your mum" and "your dad" instead of "your mother" etc. On the topic of moistness, I had a colleague who used to make "wet" meals for the family that could be easily reheated. Fortunately, I never had to eat one.
ReplyDeleteOn another topic - here are some things that amused me today in our teacher training. In observations of ESL teachers, the following instructions were given by trainee teachers:
Listen in pairs.
Listen quickly.
Both quite hard to do.
That 'your mum' et cetera thing goes with an increasing, unasked for familiarity towards older people, I reckon. I suppose it began with the way that our children called all our friends by their first names, whereas we always adressed our parents' friends as Mr and Mrs whatever they were. Which didn't mean we were not very fond of some of them. Now people in medical centres who've never met my mother seem to think it's quite okay to address her by her first name - which she doesn't seem to mind, but I think is a bit of a presumption, given her age.
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