Monolycus
Fanatic   Posts: 580 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 12:16 PM |
Here's something I've been working on for awhile. many years ago, I read
that a list of English words were shown to poets who spoke no English and
ranked in order of "loveliness". When no meaning was attached to them, the
two most "lovely" words in the English language are apparently "diarrhea"
and "syphilis".
Just like so many other things, this got me thinking. I hate the word
"mulch", always have. I don't hate the substance or anything, but "mulch"
has to be the ugliest word I know (followed by "wharf" and "souse"). Since
I'm all about compiling data, why don't you share your most hated words and
we'll see if we can find any common denominators. (I'm beginning with the
hypothesis that the short "u" sound screws up an otherwise perfectly good
word, but maybe I shouldn't have biased my findings by mentioning).
To reiterate, I don't care what the words mean, I just want to know which
words piss you off with their sound alone. Send 'em in, you didn't want
'em anyway!
~M.
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic   Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 12:39 PM |
| I hate the word "annoy" more than anything. I used to work with a girl who
used that word ALL THE TIME, and SHE was quite "annoying" herself, but I've
NEVER liked that word. ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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Psychopixi
Fanatic  Posts: 376 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 01:12 PM |
| I don't know about hate, but I -like- the word lascivious. ____________________
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
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Monolycus
Fanatic Posts: 580 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 02:03 PM |
I never really thought about "annoy", but it's got an inherent nastiness to
it. As far as "lascivious" goes, it definitely sounds better than it
looks. How about "circuitous" or "stipend"...? I defy anybody to like
those two.
~M.
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Psychopixi
Fanatic Posts: 376 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 03:24 PM |
Oh! I know what I don't like - "mould". It just *sounds* mouldy! "Shag"
isn't very nice either... there are way better words for it than that!
[Edited on 8/11/2003 by Psychopixi] ____________________
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
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chameleon
Member   Posts: 83 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 03:49 PM |
By any chance did you see the movie Donnie Darko? There was a brief
discussion of similar parameters in one scene, and for the life of me I
can't remember the phrase... It was actually a phrase, not a specific word.
But, thats not what you're asking is it? Forgive me from straying from the
REAL topic... Lets see... You know, for the life of me I can't think of
anything at the moment... Dammit! I hate it whent hat happens! I'll get
back to you as soon as my poor brain thinks of something  ____________________
The perfect mind is like a mirror. It grasps nothing. It expects nothing.
It reflects but does not hold. Therefore, the perfect man can act without
effort.
~Chuang Tsu
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dead-cell
Fanatic  Posts: 344 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 05:04 PM |
| Speaking Donnie Darko; who was that poet that siad "cellar doors" were the
most beautiful words he ever heard? ____________________
co-worker: "Your gay!?"
myself: "Didn't you see my rainbow pin?"
co-worker: "I just thought you liked skettles."
-(yes, it actually happened to me)
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VampCourt
Fanatic  Posts: 293 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 06:17 PM |
Its not so much words that bother me, its how people pronounce them, and
not only that.. ive grown tired of people using the word "like" over and
over. they cant even use other workds to describe thier thought, they just
throw in like, 20 count. For instance...
"i was talking to this person and like they were saying to me that they
like, dont understand, like, the question and like, thats kind of like how
i like, feel, like... like like like.. LIKE? LIIIIIIIKE!!!"
DIE DIE DIE! -stab stab stab- ____________________
"Thou shalt not be afraid of the dark, nor of graveyards nor ghosts nor the
devil, for thou art scarey and mean." -The Goth commandments
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HuntressPlague
Occasional Poster   Posts: 29 Registered: 2/8/2003 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 07:17 PM |
I agree with VampCourt ... That word happens to be the worst yet... 
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Devin
Administrator  Posts: 317 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Online
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posted on 11/8/2003 at 07:22 PM |
To steal from court's post - "die" is actually quite the pretty word.
"Good" on the other hand doesn't sound so melodious.
It's nice that Hawaiian words tend to sound like what they mean. It's easy
to tell when a hawaiian is telling you off.
a'a - sharp jagged lava
pahoehoe - smooth flowy lava
kapu - stay the fuck out
ono - yummy
huli - dramatically slip, fall, or wipe out (pronounced hooooo leeee)
tako - squid
puka - hole
mele - happy
lani - sky
melelani - happy sky (there is actually a melelani street - damm brown
hippies)
po - blackness (nothingness)
Imagine the goth poetry you could write with words like a'a and po
My life went huli,
The dark tako of po
has enshrouded
The the kapu a'a
puka of my heart
How I long for
the pahoehoe of your
ono melelani again
____________________
So Sayeth Me
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Monolycus
Fanatic Posts: 580 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 01:47 AM |
Chameleon: I've never seen Donnie Darko. I am tragically unhip when it
comes to pop culture references, ask anyone. Actually, I heard about the
"diarrhea/syphilis" experiment more than twenty years ago, so I wouldn't be
at all surprised if someone else hasn't come up with a similar idea long
before I happened by.
As far as the "REAL topic" is concerned... well, I almost never reveal my
motives entirely, so any input gets piled into the data pool. All comments
are welcome.
Devin: "Good" has that short "u" sound (painfully close to the Germanic
"ü" sound, which is as ugly as it gets!), which might be why it's not as
friendly as one might expect.
I'm indebted to you for bringing up different languages into the mix. You
are familiar with the Sapir-Whorf Linguistic Hypothesis (proposed by Edward
Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in 1931 (Science, issue 74. "Conceptual
Categories in Primitive Languages")? According to this hypothesis, which I
believe has a great deal of merit, the language spoken by a people
constrains and shapes their reality, or at the least, coerces their
thoughts in certain directions. This can get a little chicken-and-eggy,
though. For instance, are Hawaiians mellow and down to earth people
because they have a mellow and down to earth language, or do they have a
mellow and down to earth language because they are mellow and down to earth
people...? That was part of the reason I started this forum.
~M.
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Domkitten
Fanatic  Posts: 470 Registered: 23/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 01:58 AM |
I’m currently at a loss to describe what exactly is my least favorite
word, let me ponder it while I add this to your language discussion.
In Korea I’ve managed to pick up a fair amount of words used as
curses or for swearing, anyway, oddly enough most of the Korean words that
mean bad things have the “she” sound in them.
The most violent Korean phrase is “She bal nyung (for man for woman
yung) ah”. “She bal” Itself is pretty bad as well. Also,
“Ah-shi” is sort of a throw away for dammit or shit. Also a
very hard j, k, or the go sounds are also used frequently in bad words.
“Joke (very hard k) mee-go-pa” (eat my dick) is one of the
foulest things you can say. Followed by I-go, which is more a minor swear.
I think “phrase” itself is a pretty bad word as far as hard on
the ears go. I also dislike doctor but that could be more contextual.
____________________
It's like kegel exercises for your throat.~Monolycus
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Nicholas
Member  Posts: 74 Registered: 17/3/2003 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 07:20 AM |
| I just watched that movie yesterday... Frank is awesome. I think they might
have made up that cellar door reference to fit the plot better. The words I
hate the most are "bunk" and "cyfe" (pronuced like knife without the "n").
The little gangsta wannabe kids toss it around all the time... I asked one
what "cyfe" meant an he said I was "bunk" for asking... My favourite words
right now are, "sulicider-cabby-bandly-spaid", "explosion", and "3 million
what?" (means "I'm confused") ____________________
"Be neither a master nor a slave to pudding, for there is a time to gather,
and a time to cast pudding away"
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VampCourt
Fanatic Posts: 293 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 09:28 AM |
Im cheesy, but Im really into japanese prases and words and i love when
something cool happens because then i yell out
"YATTAAAAAAA!" (er.. yatta)
im still learning.. heh.. ____________________
"Thou shalt not be afraid of the dark, nor of graveyards nor ghosts nor
the
devil, for thou art scarey and mean." -The Goth commandments
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Dolorosa
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 856 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 01:30 PM |
My least favorite english words are as follows...cheeky, chuckles,
giggiles...ah, what else...Merry Widow can help me on this one. Even though
it's my first language, and can sound really cool...english is all sorts of
deplorable sometimes.
I've always liked the way Hawaiian speech rolls off the tongue, though I
have never attempted to speak it myself, I love listening to it.
German is my all time favorite for "Angry Talk," it just rocks that
way.
And court, I too am guilty of spouting japanisms...I've upped the otaku
ante by adding a neh on the end of the ol' "Awesome!" making it come out as
Yataa-neh! And so help me if every time I see a cat I don't mutter, Neko
neko wai....complete with goofy hand gestures and half closed eyes. Ah,
being a dork rules... ____________________
In the valley of the Goats, the Goat Fucker is King
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Schizo
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 897 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 03:23 PM |
Actually, I came across the same "cellar door" thing in C.S. Lewis's
letters to children, mentioned as the loveliest phrase in the English
language, so it definitely pre-dates Donnie Darko.
Scrotum is an ugly word. Ugly is an ugly word, also. Verbage is
atrocious.
Come to think of it, all of those words have a short u sound in them.
I know there are other words I abhor, but I can't think of them now.
My baby's favorite song is "Mad World", the song right at the end of Donnie
Darko when the remains are being taken out of the house. It never fails to
stop her from crying!
[Edited on 8/12/2003 by Schizo] ____________________
"You can tell by the scars on my arms and the cracks in my hips and the
dents in my car and the blisters on my lips that I'm not the carefullest of
girls." - Dresden Dolls, "Girl Anachronism"
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Abbadon
Fanatic  Posts: 499 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 05:11 PM |
| Quiloquial. ____________________
Light is changing to shadow, and casting a shroud over all we have known.
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Abbadon
Fanatic Posts: 499 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 05:16 PM |
| I also hate just about any word when its spoken with an American accent. ____________________
Light is changing to shadow, and casting a shroud over all we have known.
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AloneSoul
Fanatic  Posts: 522 Registered: 6/7/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 07:37 PM |
I know this will probably damage my karma but I've had it with him.
I'll say this as American as possible:
Your "witty" comments aren't funny. Piss off. ____________________
 but at least you know, just how much pain there is in living
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Meranda_Jade
Fanatic  Posts: 511 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/8/2003 at 08:41 PM |
| I think the ugliest word ever is "fart". I just can't freakin' stand it. I
don't think it's cute or funny, just extremely vulgar. It just sounds
wrong... ____________________
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