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<font size=3>At 8/8/2009 12:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">The Archives do not wish to
disgorge very much of last year's discussion of<br>
the allegedd offensiveness of this word.<br><br>
Just heard on NPR's quiz show "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" which
I find<br>
_highly_ offensive for its unfunniness, that users of FaceBook have
declared<br>
the word "moist" to be the most unpleasant word in English (or
on FaceBook -<br>
sorry I didn't hear the entire thing).<br><br>
The show then quoted a linguist (one of us?) who suggested that<br>
the perceived putridity may come from the "oi" diphthong. Why a
humble<br>
diphthong should be considered offensive went unexplored.<br><br>
I suspect anti-Brooklyn/Bowery Boy bigotry in representations of NYC<br>
speech. Am very offended by all of it.</blockquote><br>
Or anti-Semitic? ("Oy") :-)<br><br>
Joel</font></body>
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