word aversion

[aroraborealis]

Do you have any word aversions?

I have one: "pit" (but only when describing holes or hole-like areas (armpit, tree pit, etc, not, say, when describing the stones in fruit).

Comments

[kcatalyst.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have a lot of words that I dislike because of their history of usage, like epithets as referred to above and "weenie" here. Lots of disphemisms for sex and body parts. But it's not the words themselves I dislike so much as the whole package of history of use. Which, actually is what the word is, of course. Except when talking about word aversions, people often claim it has nothing to do with meaning so I'm trying to play by the rules. Even though I think the rules are incorrect, because, really, otherwise it would be a remarkable coincidence that so many word aversions are for objects, actions and experiences that also spark aversions. Not a lot of people have aversions to "cat" (those stops are so harsh!) and "rainbow" (I have the way those two diphthongs.. uh... diverge from each other).

Right. Back to work.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Well, "weenie" has the double strike of having a stupid history (a penis is like a hotdog, and I'm 9 so I think that's funny!) *and* being a funny-sounding word.

Bzzzt.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

There are also words I dislike just due to sound. I don't like "rt" (as in "heart" or "fart") or "rk" ("lark" or "fork"). It's when those words are combined with some other context, as you say, that they become loathsome.

BTW, "loathsome" is an awesome word.