Well, OK, what's your least favorite word?

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Hmm?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Panties. God I hate that word.

― Jessa (Jessa), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:32 (twenty-two years ago)

blurb
unpack-When referenced in literature classes. A horrible horrible way to ruin.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

poetry.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 28 June 2004 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

fart.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 28 June 2004 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

slacks. Eew!

― Mrs. Brian Johnson, Monday, 28 June 2004 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"Fart"? Really?

I've never enjoyed the word "gay". I think hard "g" sounds are a bit ugly, especially when they're followed by vowels. I'm glad "geegaw" is a pretty rare word.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 28 June 2004 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Cunt

*shudder*

― Mary K, Librarian (Mary K, Librarian), Monday, 28 June 2004 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

"item." People who use the word "item" when speaking to foodservice/retail workers should be dragged out in the street and shot. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:08 (twenty-two years ago)

jocelyn, you're so on, "unpack" needs to die as well, yeeeeuuuuugh.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

facilitate

― kath (kath), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:14 (twenty-two years ago)

"like"
a one-size-fits-all word. awful.

― aurora, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 04:44 (twenty-two years ago)

(words)
humanitarian
brown
candy
nude - although nudie-rudie is fine

― sandy mc (sandy mc), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I kinda like "unpack".

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I am sad that my favourite word showed up here :( (I really like unpack too!) (and brown!)

I really don't rate 'cup', it seems like should be full and homely, and instead it's all hollow and lacking. Also, 'titties'.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

magic

― Fred (Fred), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:02 (twenty-two years ago)

The word 'penetrate' when it is used to refer to an activity like scuba-diving: 'we will penetrate the wreck'. Don't they get it?

― Caroline, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and I heard a plastic surgeon on Extreme Makeover refer to someone's face as 'the facial area.' UUUGHH!

― Caroline, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 09:10 (twenty-two years ago)

OK these are phrases not words but....

"high net worth" used to mean rich
"going forward" or "moving forward" appended to any sentence to mean either (a) in the future or (b) nothing or (c) a deliberately ambiguous combination of the two, with overtones of vaguely powerful management.

― Matthew Shorter, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

proactive

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh my god. Panties is my least favorite word as well. Plus I hate sanitary.

― bookdwarf (bookdwarf), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

blog

― mck (mck), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Dungarees.

― Richard Bellamy, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Hahaha "dungarees" is indeed terrible.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

bucolic - how could something that sounds so terrible have a definition that's so lovely?

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Too close to bubonic. That's the problem.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Also 'salubrious' and 'pulchritude' sound bad when they are meant to be good.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"Occasionally". I never remember how to spell it.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

"going forward" or "moving forward" appended to any sentence to mean either (a) in the future or (b) nothing or (c) a deliberately ambiguous combination of the two, with overtones of vaguely powerful management.

You, my friend, are so right. I think a lot of the reason I left the IT industry is so that I don't have to hear this stupid phrase ever again (the accompanying hand gestures are pretty terrible too).

I dislike almost any verbed noun, but I'm not as picky as my brother. He won't even let people say 'I'll pencil that in', or 'I'll courier it over to you.' I've also come to hate the word 'revert', because people use it like this: 'please revert to me with those documents'. What?

Also, like any normal person, I dislike the word 'panties'.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

To those who like "unpack": try having an editor say that to you when what you mean is perfectly clear to her but she is dutifully assuming that the "target audience" (UGH!) has the collective brain capacity of a bowl of Froot Loops.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

(I suppose in its proper context -- ie used AFTER the thing is published, eh? -- it could be, uh, nonintestinalviolencemaking.)

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Snob

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

With regards to "unpack" I think it's such a dull and heartless word to use to examine books, poems, etc. Plus I had a really icky professor who always said it in a condescending sort of voice. I don't want to "unpack" John Donne, Andrew Marvell, and their ilk. Caress maybe.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh c'mon Pepe, I think snob is a lovely word, SURTOUT when applied to myeth personish!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Puss
Boyfriend (they're not boys after 17!)

― Caenis (Caenis), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 23:12 (twenty-two years ago)

i to dislike proactive. when you think about it it makes no sense. one is either active or they are not. or maybe one can be a professional active? like a professional ballplayer?

i also dislike the work "politician"

and can someone explain the phrase i see on menus sometimes..."chicken fried chicken?" just what the heck does that mean???

― john keiffer, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"chicken fried chicken?" I'm a native Texan, let me handle this. Fried chicken is chicken on the bone, dipped in milk or buttermilk, then breaded with flour and various herbs and fried in a deepish amount of oil. Chicken fried steak is cutlet-grade, pounded to a fare-thee-well beef, dipped in egg, breaded in crushed cracker crumbs and flour mixture and various herbs, then pan fried in shallow oil. By extension, chicken fried chicken is a boneless, pounded piece of chicken, dipped in egg, breaded in crushed cracker crumbs and flour mixture and various herbs, than pan fried in shallow oil. Serve the latter two with cream gravy (not brown gravy, what a travesty!) or face the wrath of Texas cooks. Plus your stomach will thank you.
http://www.texascooking.com/print_features4.htm

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Jeepers. Reading that reminded me of another of my unfavourites:
'cholesterol'.

― Caroline, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:07 (twenty-two years ago)

That makes me hungry.

― aimurchie, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 04:43 (twenty-two years ago)

and may I add with mashed potatos and biscuits. To soak up all the grease and gravy. I am so hungry.

― aimurchie, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 05:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I do not understand this use of the word 'unpack'. What mean you?

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 07:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I much prefer panties to knickers.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

In English... Probably "sassy".

― Øystein H-O (Øystein H-O), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 11:28 (twenty-two years ago)

for the accentmonkey-currently favoured academic word for explicating literature, especially dense passages.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"CLOSURE" (I am making myself angry just writing it.) NO MORE CLOSURE!

― aimurchie, Wednesday, 30 June 2004 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I kind of like "salubrious," Archel ~ it sounds naughty if you don't know the meaning ;)

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

People who don't like verbing don't like the English language. The idea that English words have fixed parts of speech and should never stray is one of those damned ideas introduced in the 19th C. by Latinists. (Well, OK, I'm pretty sure it is, it has all the earmarks of that sort of "rule".) The most brilliant thing about English is that it is flexible like that.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

boobs
neocon
nukular

― Docpacey (docpacey), Wednesday, 30 June 2004 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"People who don't like verbing don't like the English language." My husband and I have little game we call "verbing the noun".

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Thursday, 1 July 2004 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

C'mon! Boobs is a great word. It sounds like what it is: a round sound, not particularly dignified but kinda fun. And what's more, it looks like what it is.... those two cute eloquent 'o's.

― Caroline (Caro), Thursday, 1 July 2004 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the terms 'going forward' and 'circling back' are used so often at my office that its a running joke b/n my cubicle neighbor and i.

― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 1 July 2004 02:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Vicious circle. I HATE people who say this.

― Fred (Fred), Thursday, 1 July 2004 10:09 (twenty-two years ago)

On a similar vibe to 'proactive', I hate 'step-change'. I come across it all the time in public service/mission statement type contexts and I STILL don't know what it means or how it is different from a normal change.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes! Blog! ugh, I do hate that word. I can barely type it without getting an upset stomach. I have a viceral reaction when it's spoken.

Panties, indeed. Nasty word.

Scrunchie, as well. Cloth covered hair elastics never sounded so foul.

― sparkle j (sparkle j), Thursday, 1 July 2004 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

notion

― Marykate brown (Marykate), Friday, 2 July 2004 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

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