Tuesday, December 18, 2012

HYDRATED:  Language Log tries to figure out why so many people are averse to the word moist:
The words in question are not taboo in the culture at large. Women seem to be more more likely to have this reaction, though perhaps they are just more likely to talk and write about it.. Sounds and sound associations may play a role (the diphthong usually spelled 'oi', certain consonant clusters, etc.); semantic associations may play a role (slimy textures, lower-body garments like panties and slacks); but the process seems pretty random and erratic, also hitting on random-seeming words like hardscrabble, baffle and tissue. Nevertheless, certain specific words (such as moist and panties in English) seem to be frequent victims. This lexical specificity could be because the process is more deterministic than it seems, or because of cultural transmission that doesn't reach the threshold of creating new lexical taboos, but does create a widely-shared aversion to particular words well above chance levels.

14 comments:

  1. Watts4:35 PM

    I'm taking this entire post personally.

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  2. The Pathetic Earthling4:42 PM

    You need anything dampened, or made soggy?

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  3. Watts4:54 PM

    While we're at it, don't ever give me anything that's "puce" colored. And let's ask Joseph Finn how I feel about the word "crusty" too.



    I love that language can be so evocative; I hate that language can be so evocative.

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  4. Slowlylu6:11 PM

    Is crusty used as an idiom in the US to denote feeling stale over tired or perhaps hungover?

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  5. Randy6:53 PM

    I'm sure I've mentioned this before... you can try all you like, but you will NEVER find a word more with a pronunciation more evocative of its own disgustingness than "smegma".

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  6. "Slacks"? Seriously? I'm missing something there.

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  7. Oh, you mean like eye- or sleep-goblins?

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  8. Slowlylu9:14 PM

    Mmm sort of - but more irascible than denoting a symptom.

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  9. Oh, sorry, that wasn;t mean as a reply to you. I've never heard it in the over-tired or hungover context. Sleep-goblins are a term used in parts of the US for those little bits of crust in your eyes when you wake up.

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  10. Adam B.9:53 PM

    Oh: eye snot!

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  11. Heather K10:47 PM

    We called them snookum growing up at my house.

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  12. We called them "sleepies."

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  13. Slowlylu, I've not heard "crusty" used to mean that here. I do like the way Brits use "shattered" to mean dog tired.

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  14. Pus? Ointment? Mucus?

    One of the most horrific phrases in the English language to me is "mucus plug." Feeling queasy just typing it.

    I go back and forth on whether succulent is wonderful or awful.

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