Words I Loathed

[Heather]

Natalie, I just have to say that I LOVE your "definition" of "chick lit" -- 9 times out of 10, I'd say that's exactly right.

[Dianna]

I have to say that I hate it when people use the word "shall" because it seems pretentious to me.

Example: Shall we go to the movies?

Why can't they just say, "Do you want to go to the movies?"

It reminds me too much of a Jane Austen novel or something.

[Meghan]

This thread reminds me of the list a friend has of words she hates. Congealed and moist are two that I can think of.

But what I find interesting is how strongly some of you feel about certain words. I think that goes to show just how strongly a word (or group of words) can create an image in your mind. There's something to "a pen is mightier..."

Which is what I hate--recycled trite analogies and metaphors. Come on people--use your imaginations and come up with something new for a change.

[Meghan]

And yes, off-shore is beyond the legal limit of a country's waters boundaries. Example: A cruise ship cannot open their casino until they are in international waters. Also, cruises for nudists also have to wait until reaching said waters before people are allowed to publicly disrobe. Hence off-shore gambling and porn. heh (disclaimer: no disrepect to nudists meant though in said example. nudists does not equal porn.)

[Aimee]

Are you kidding?? those are AWESOME! I think I'm gonna write a book and use those words to describe things that are completely unsexual.

[Anna]

Yeah, and the typical chicklit cover
-is bright pink or purple or light blue
-has images of shoes or purses
-silver/ gold/ glittering text (what? We're magpies or something?)
-irregular, curled, twirling fonts (How many chicklit books have you ever seen with arial?)

I actually don't have anything against the books that are defined as "chicklit" as such (some are funny, some are not) - I just resent the category.

[Tara]

I hear ya, Brooke! "You're reading THAT?" just makes me come unhinge. Hey, I'm reading the written word, which is better than playing Zelda on my Nintendo handheld gaming system (nothing agains Nintendo cause I did have one as a teen and I really like the Wii system and am tempted to ask Santa for one for Christmas).

I do read chicklit I just don't like the category of "chicklit". It's not a shelf at the local bookstore, so how has it become a complete literary catergory? There are some funny ones out there that I've actually read more than once (Good in Bed is one) and then there were others that made me vomit a little in my mouth (The Accidental Virgin -- it also had a bright, neon pink cover). As much as I enjoy having my mind stimulated, sometimes its good to just let my mind unwind and sail away.

[Sarah]

I suggest some of you read Emily Giffin. She writes "chick lit" and yes, her covers are pastel, but she doesn't insult the intelligence of her readers. Two of her three heroines are smarter than they are pretty, and the other one learns a lesson that there's more to life than being the hottest girl in the room.

Stacey Ballis is another novelist of that genre whose writing is more intelligent than many others. I also like her books because the heroine doesn't have to lose weight in order to get the guy (like in Good in Bed or Jemima J).

[[deleted user]]

Chick lit is real.

I don't like chick lit.

Chick flicks are real.

I like some chick flicks.

[Ann M]

LOL - yes I guess they think we *are* magpies. Hm, I do dress a lot in black and white...

[David]

One of life's conundrums: why do so many people hate the word 'moist'? I subscribe to a site called wordie, for people with an interest in words, and 'moist' shows up regularly as a most-hated word. (personally, I think it's innocuous).

The most-hated word on Wordie? Schadenfreude. Why? It's a mystery.

[Tara]

Sarah -- actually I love Emily Griffith! I thought Something Borrowed and Something Blue were wonderfully written and had characters that were easy to relate to. I think I liked Something Borrowed a little more though. I have the two books sitting on the shelf right next to Good in Bed, which I adore! I liked that Emily Griffith and Jennifer Weiner both had female characters who were human and didn't look like the girls on America's Next Top Model.

What is schadenfreude?

[Anna]

"moist" sounds like something unhealthy and unpleasant...like a damp cellar. I keep thinking of fungus when I hear that word.

Ick.

[Tiffany]

re: pink - Oh, my goodness, Natalie, you've hit the nail on the head! We're girls, and "our color" is pink, so of course we all LOVE pink, and want everything in pink!

geez. I'm a huge sports fan. But sports are for guys, and only guys like sports, right? So the only sports merchandise you could find up until a few years ago (literally, one or two) was in men's sizes. Hello! Women and girls like sports, too! We want to show our team pride! So teams and leagues *finally* got smart and started making apparel in women's sizes. Great! They realized we exist! The only problem now: EVERYTHING'S PINK! *grrrrrrrrr*

By the way, I hate pink.

[Sarah]

I like pink, but it does bug me when something only comes in that color. I'm a comic book geek and I love Superman, but the only Superman shirts I can find in women's sizes are pink "Supergirl" shirts. I don't want Supergirl or pink. I want the Red, Blue, and Yellow that means Truth, Justice, and the American Way!

[Jackie "the Librarian"]

As a girl, I resented pink, and refused to wear it. To me, chicklit means anything inspired by Sex and the City, which I enjoyed despite myself. I think I must be a contrarian.
Words I hate;
Exclusive
Product
Package (especially when used as a euphemism)
Weapons of mass destruction

Words I love:
Schadenfreude
Snarky (I myself am snarky, which helps)

[Stephanie]

Natalie,

Have you seen the musical "Avenue Q"? It's a spoof of Sesame Street. One of the songs is "Schadenfreude" and I nearly peed in my pants when I heard it. You can check out the lyrics here:

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/avenue...

[Lisa]

My best friend's mother lost her sight due to diabetes, but pursued a masters degree in spite of that. Her thesis was on Stephen Crane. As 4th graders, my friend and I were enlisted to read articles about Crane into a tape recorder so her Mother could listen to them later. We were both good readers, but one day I came across the word 'malevolent'. Having never seen this word I used my phonetic skills and came up with 'male' 'volent'. I was teased for that pronunciation for years!

[Brooke]

My favorite color is pink. That being said, I don't want everything I own to be pink. Certainly not a Philadelphia Eagles jersey or a New York Yankees hat! I think there is a bit of overkill with the color; we aren't newborns...

[Sarah]

That's the other thing that gets me! Why do baby clothes always have to come in only pink or blue or yellow? What if I want my child to wear green or purple? I went a little nuts while shopping for my best friend's baby shower because I wanted to buy every little girl outfit that wasn't pink! Pink is great, but even infants deserve a little variety in their wardrobe. So I bought her purple outfits, and turquoise, and green, and red, and brown...

[Mark]

I like the word moist when it refers to dog food, not the nether regions, as in "our new canned dog food is moist and meaty."

I have never said Schadenfreude aloud. It looks like some sort of psychological color to me...the color of a couch in a psychologist's office that you're sitting on while you spill your guts and he is sitting across the room nodding off...it's the color of being ignored despite your intense angst and despite telling the truth to one person finally even though they do not care that you are paying them $150 per hour to listen to you. I guess that's why I can't say the word.

[Tara]

Natalie -- thanks for the definition. I think I am going to use "Schadenfreude" as much as I can. There are days when I take great pleasure in the misery of others, then there are days when I cry for the world. Hmm.

Pink looks pretty good on me and I wear it, mainly in blouses, but with that being said I don't want a football jersey or a baseball jersey with my favorite player's name and number on it in PINK! I have a friend, on the other hand, who searched far and wide for a pink Champ Bailey shirt. It was cute, but there's just something sacrilegious about not wearing the team colors. Whether your team is the Broncos or the Steelers, shirts should not be pink! I want to get a jersey of my fave player on the Rockies, and can't find one in my size and don't want one in pink.

I used "skeevy" the other day to describe a guy who was intruding into my personal bubble. I love "skeevy", it's just fun to say.

So, does anyone loathe it when people mispronounce their name? My co-worker and I got into a conversation about it because she absolutely detests it when people pronounce her name AND my name incorrectly. Now, I can understand how she feels about her name, but I think it's hilarious that she gets so angry when people pronounce my name wrong. I stopped correcting people 20 years ago. As long as it isn't something way far off like Muriel or Penelope (I like both of those names but they don't even start with the same letter as mine -- T), I'll answer. I did answer to my sister's name once, it's Ashley, and our mom was talking to me and she was rattling off names so I answered to my sister's so she would get to the point.

[Sarah]

I did buy a pink Sacramento Kings hat, but that was because it benefitted breast cancer research.

I hate it when people who've known me for years and years leave the h off the end of my name.

[Stephanie]

I live in terror of meeting people whose name is some variation of Kristen (Kerstin, Krista, Christine, Christina...) Upon learning their name, I always try picturing their face and mumbling it in quick succession (sorta like "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice") in the desperate hope that I won't get it wrong the next time we meet. Even when I get the name right, I always fear I've gotten it wrong. That being said, it's much for me to master a person's name if I see it in writing (like on a blog or via paperwork.)

[Brooke]

If it's for Breast Cancer Awareness I'm all for it,Sarah. but like Tara said "there's just something sacrilegious about not wearing the team colors" So I think a ribbon on the shoulder or wrapped around the emblem is cool.
Anyone else notice that for the entire month of October the towels on the sidelines of the NFL games were pink. A very light pink, like someone tossed in a red sock with the whites. Guess that's a little off topic.....


I loath the word Rank. When I was a teenager we used this word to describe something gross and smelly, person or otherwise. Now I hear it on that E channel and want to barf. They use it in a good context but I still can't get passed it. I think of gross smelly Billy Counterman...

Oh and add me to the list of 'moist' haters.

[Sarah]

Oh, and back to the original post in this thread regarding sexual euphemisms...

I loathe the word "mounted" when used in a sexual context. You "mount" a horse so when I see it used to describe a sex act it makes me think of bestiality which gives me the heebie jeebies.

I like the phrase heebie jeebies.

Dictionary.com's word of the day is "gesticulate" which I love and use often.

I also love the word "autumnal."

[Mark]

I was just thinking back to my glibness about breasts. I hate another word used for them, which is "rack." First, women are not deer. Second, I can't imagine hanging a hat on them or drying a towel on them. Third, I think of billiards, where you rack up the balls. Similarly, calling a woman a dish is weird. And let's not get started on "snatch." Once my wife, then very young and sort of naive, called me a twat, when she meant twit. I don't like the word "twat," anyhow.

[Sarah]

From an article at Wikipedia about purple prose:

'Modern instances of purple prose can often be found in romance novels. These started alluding to sex in the 1970s and authors, not wanting to be either pornographic or clinical in their descriptions, developed many euphemisms to describe body parts and sexual activity. Examples include "throbbing manhood", "quivering desire" and (he) "filled her with the hot wet tumult of his love." Body parts are often referred to simply by the term his or her "sex", which allows for such (parody) sentences as "He put his sex in her sex and they had sex."'

[Mark]

"Splooge" is onomatopoeic but I still don't think I like it.

It is interesting, too, that making love now means having sex instead of courting or flirting. The current usage of the phrase implies that all sex includes love, which is just not true. I added that because of Sara with an h's post from wikipedia about purple prose. I think Sarah should always have an h at the end, by the way. I was sort of spurned by a Sara and now the spelling bothers me a little.

[Sarah]

To me, making love is different than having sex. You don't always "make love" even with a partner you love. To me, making love is sweet and tender and romantic and doesn't at all describe some encounters which are more wild or passionate or frenzied.

And Sara without the h looks naked. But maybe that is how you would like her.

[Mark]

Too funny, Sarah! I guess h might stand for habit, or maybe hairshirt. I'm being mean, though. I would have liked to, back then...

What I meant about making love is that in books of over 100 years ago or so, it meant courting or pursuing somebody, usually a man toward a woman. I agree with you though, about the connotations of it as you understand the phrase. I meant that it is used prosaically for having sex, which I don't like (I mean the usage of the phrase :).

[Sarah]

I know what you meant. I think it even had a different meaning more recently than 100 years ago.

But, then again, we don't refer to happy, frolicking people as "gay" anymore unless they are also homosexual.

[Mark]

Gallant is as well. I hate the use of the word "gaydar."

[Sarah]

Ah, "gaydar" is a word my gay friends and I often shorten to just "'dar."

Another great word: yare.

"My, she was yare." - Katharine Hepburn, Philadelphia

Edited because apparently it's spelled with an e

[Mark]

Oh, I like that, "yar" as Kate used it! Rednecks use the word, too, but it means something different, as in "Yar too gonna put that dog outside." I was raised as an educated redneck, so I can talk about them. Pirates use yar, too.

Getting back to the sex words, I use the word "skanky" sometimes. I feel guilty about that, because maybe I use it incorrectly. I use it to mean an overly slutty, stinky smelling or looking woman. Is there an equivalent for men?

Just a stray thought: Should the Christmas song refrain be properly sung "Don we now our hetero apparel" by gays, because it is still commonly sung with the g word?

[Sarah]

I loathe the phrase "She looks like she was rode hard and put away wet."

I loathe the phrase "ripped him/her/me/you a new one."

I use the word "skanky" when talking about something disgusting and nonhuman, such as "skanky old pair of socks."

And I know you were being funny, but I have heard it sung "don we now our fine apparel" by groups too -- what? PC? -- to use the word gay.

[Mark]

Well, PC goes way too far. I think we should use the word gay and damn the naygaysayers. I've never heard it sung with fine, but I bet I will soon. I won't do it, and they can't make me!

I loathe the phrase "shove it up your ass." Sorry for the profanity here. But it's one of the most loathsome phrases.

I don't like the rode hard and put away wet phrase either, nor the usage of being ripped a new one.

It's amazing how the most loathsome phrases reveal so much about our collective paranoia, especially about sexuality.

[Anna]

I love how this thread is really having it's own life. :)
Thank you for the definition, Nathalie. I didn't recoginize the German word, but I now realize we have that same word in Swedish, and I've actually wondered about how to translate it before (If there's one word for it in English, I mean.)

I can't say I uses 'skanky' all that often, but I've only done so in the negative sense that Sarah described.


I so agree, Mark, about your comment on our most loathsome phrases. I thought about that regarding sex - that if *we* all were able to discuss sex in an honest and open way, many of these horrible expressions would become obsolete.
(So many of them still put men as the active doers and women as those being "done"...I say it's about time to at least update the euphemisms.)

[Norman]

Anna, your final comment prompted me to recall a few lines from John Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down":

And from the first time that she really done me
Ooh, she done me
She done me good
I guess nobody ever really done me
Ooh, she done me
She done me good

Hmm...he's turned the 'doing' around...does that change our impression of or reaction to that expression?

[Anna]

Ah, good ol'Lennon. :-D
(I always interpreted that song as being about emotions, and how he's let his guard down, begging her to be gentle with him and his heart -rather than sex...?)

I wasn't just thinking of the to do/ to be done expression- I was mostly thinking about the expressions in comments 368 and 369.

But I hate that expression too -to do/ be done (sexually), irrespective of who is doing what. I doubt I'd use it even in a passive/ active roleplay. "To do someone"? It reeks of crappy, low-budget porn, Lennon or no Lennon.

[Dianna]

I am reading the book "A Study of History" by Toynbee and he often used the word 'volkerwanderung' which I have gathered is the moving around of a group of people over a period of time. I guess it's ok for him to use words like that since he has written a scholarly book but not everyone speaks German and I would prefer 'migration of groups of people' or something.

As far as the name thing goes, I absolutely hate it when someone spells my name wrong in e-mail after I have signed my name to the end of my correspondence.

[Anna]

Dianna - oh, I know. And how some scholars use academic terminology in French!

I do understand why some words are left untranslated or in other languages, in books, but I wish the authors/ translators would put an explanation of the word in a footnote or something.

[Mark]

I also wish translations would appear. I have read some older books that frequently use Latin phrases and assume that everyone who is educated will understand that language. It seems like they were being snooty about it back then even.

I hate it when people ask me over the phone if my name ends with a 'c.' Mark ending with a 'c' is very uncommon, and I don't like it, not at all.

The derogatory terms about sexuality seem to me to result from several sources in our collective psyche: 1. Puritanism; 2. Fears of differences; 3. Insecurity in ones gender role; 4. Control issues; 5. Selfishness. I'm probably missing some here.

I don't like the 'being done' concept either. It's much better if it is characterized as a mutually rewarding experience.

Strange, it is so integral to our beings, yet we persist in hurting others and letting ourselves be hurt concerning sexuality. Well, we can't solve the world's problems here, but it sure is nice to be able to talk about it.

[Sarah]

That's why, when reading classics, I always try to buy a footnoted edition. Barnes & Noble classics and Norton classics seem to have the best footnotes which explain not only foreign language phrases but also archaic and obsolete phrases and colloquialisms.

[Marion for a Free Palestine]

I can't stand the phrase "pardon my French". An older, professional woman at my work actually used this last night! I was so embarrassed for her, but I also just wanted to say, No, I'm sorry, that wasn't French, and you are not pardoned!

[Gail]

As I was browsing through this really entertaining thread, I had to I laugh aloud at the thought of Mark's wife calling him a "twat" when she meant "twit". Heh. Wish I could have seen his face and heard the explanation he gave her.
I'm personally offended by "rack", "headlamps", and assorted other words that just seem...not human in reference to one's, er, breasts. On the other hand, "boobs" offends me not at all because I use it myself; probably a result of the good old Catholic upbringing: one turned scarlet with embarassment over any reference to, er, breasts.

[Recynd]

Hey all--so many good topics! Let's see...

I have to confess, I've been woefully unfamiliar with the word "Schadenfreude"...where the hell have I been?? I've always just said "glee in the face of the misery of others", but that just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Can somebody explain the correct pronunciation of Schadenfreude (I'm sorry...I could certainly look it up...)? I'd probably say it wrong, and look like the worst kind of moron: a pedantic one.

I like "moist" and especially "congealed". Another word that fits in nicely is "buttery"; a girlfriend and I used to use "buttery" as a general compliment, as in "Mmmm...buttery..." (with "buttery" in italics, you know?). The word "creamy" is sort of stomach-churning, especially since I can only seem to say it like I've got a stuffed-up nose: "cwweebbie". (I always throw that "mmmmmm" before that word, as well; I'm pretty sure it's not nearly as cute to those around me as it once was...).

Moving right along, and at the risk of being identified (living life on the edge, aren't I?!), what I hate more than having my name mangled (it's fairly horrible, so I have come to expect it) by the clerk at the grocery store (why, oh why, have they started telling you to have a nice day...using your name??), is having my name brutalized by phone solicitors: "Yes, may I speak to Mrs....uh...Lev-oh-le-mold?"

"It's 'Lervold'."

"Yes, uh, Mrs. Lev-le-vel-mold, we'd like to thank you...."

Sigh.

Finally, realizing full well that this is not a very popular stance, but taking it publicly nonetheless, I HATE the breast-cancer-awareness-pink campaign. With a passion. Who among is IS NOT AWARE ALREADY?? Is it REALLY a matter of lack of federal funding that a cure hasn't been found? Is it really that breast cancer's going ignored over more popular diseases, such as hepatitis C, herpes, or even treatments for addiction? Now THAT'S what I'd like to see: a campaign to heighten public awareness of heroin addiction! Forget Red Ribbon Week...I want addiction to have its own color and symbol! Black's too obvious, how about...yellow? Reminiscent of jaundice, and the cowardly nature of the affliction, perhaps?

I'm being glib, I know. I'm NOT making light of anyone who suffers in any way from the horrid curse of cancer (in any form). I just get tired of everything being so politicized.

I won't bring it up again; I know it's off-topic, and besides, I like all (well, okay, some) you people...I DON'T mean to insult.

I've got to get to work; later I'll work up a little something explaining the theory I have about sexually-based discourse, you lucky, lucky dogs.

[Mark]

For Gail, msg #378: I think my mouth opened as wide as possible and I turned red when she called me a twat. I don't like the use of the term "boob job." It sounds like another sort of job, the kind that our former president said wasn't sex, and creates weird pictures in my mind.

For Recynd, msg #379: I loved it when Mike Myers played the coffee lady and always said that Barbara Streisand's legs were "like buttah."

What do you like to use the word congealed to describe? I like the word "colloidal," especially when I want to gross somebody out about the water that they're drinking.

See here for the pronunciation of schadenfreude: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/schaden....

[Sariah]

I sympathize with your wife Mark, since I once got "twat" and "twit" mixed up. When I was 12 I called my brother a twat; my mom overheard and I got a lesson on "word definition" I'll never forget.

[Recynd]

Mark: Thank you for the link...I took one look at the pronunciation thingamabob and started to crack up (what's up with the under-sized, upside-down little "e" things? Never mind...I don't want to know.), then I clicked on the "say it" button...and that took me to the floor, but I'm not 100% sure why. But I shant (shan't?) be saying it incorrectly in the future!!

I use the word "congealed" when pointing out the gunk left behind at tables in restaurants, the unidentifable oodge on the bus stop bench, and whenever I happen to see high-chairs, the ones for babies, I mean; they provide endless cause for the use of "congealed". I work it in as much as possible, to the delight of my 10-year old son (whose favorite word is currently "churlish", usually in reference to his mother). He's going to be introduced to "colloidal" right after school, lucky duck! Lest I sound like I'm creating a total prig, one of our favorite past-times has been to find new and exciting filthy-sounding words: "pluckjugger", "ashsack", "nutpacker", stupid stuff like that, and we always say, "I don't know what it means, but I don't like the sound of it!!" at the end of it. I've also been known to bring him to tears (no easy feat, my kid) by endlessly calling him a "dick-tator" or an "ass-phalt" (under my breath, of course, so my husband doesn't catch me). And NOOOO, NOT when I'm MAD...just when he needs a good torturing (I mean, he's TEN! He needs torturing once in a while!) Who needs to be friends with the "bad kids" at school when you've got ME for a mother??!! Ahhhh, good times...good times.

To give proper credit, I bet my girlfriend and I ripped off SNL's "like buttah" bit...around 1986, you think?

Stupid post; my apologies to whoever bothered reading this far...