The m-word

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 25, 2007, at 8:42 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:

> A student in my Shakespeare class announced that the word
> "moist" (which I had uttered to describe Egypt in _Antony &
> Cleopatra_) is offensive to women...

see the Moist Chronicles on Language Log:

ML, 8/20/07: Ask Language Log: The moist panties phenomenon:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004835.html

ML, 9/10/07: Morning mailbag:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004896.html

ML, 10/6/07: The long moist tail:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004993.html

(note in the last a reference to the facebook group I HATE the word
MOIST!)

these are about "word aversions", especially to the "cringe word"
"moist".  the aversion to the word seems to be much stronger among
women than among men.  but it's news to me that some women are now
taking it to be offensive to women.

arnold

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