The m-word

[Jonathan Lighter]

Charlie, you'll have noticed the current TV commercials that feature

  A. a bouncing balloon filled with urine, and

  B. giant anthropomorphic mucus.

  Market researchers seem to have determined that these images are very appealing to today's prime demographic.  They'll move products.  (Or "product," as products are so often called on TV.)

JL

Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Charles Doyle
Subject: Re: The m-word
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'd think that "misty" and "moisty" might be distantly cognate, but evidently they aren't. "Mist" seems to go back to an IU root meaning "urinate" (cf. "micturate"), whereas "moist" comes from L "mucus"! Pokorny's note on the root "meug-" is interesting: 'slimy, slippery; with derivatives referring to various wet or slimy substances and conditions'; possible derivatives include OE "smok" ('smock'), MHG "smuck" ('clothing', from whence "Schmuck" 'jewel'!) and the Greek-derived "-mycin" words, having to do with fungus or mold.

I'm starting to think the word "moist" IS disgusting--and "misty" too!

Just to clarify: My student and her sisters were not being outraged at my use of the word--rather amused that I should be so clueless as not to recognize the indelicacy of it.

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:35:51 -0400
>From: Kate Daly
>
>As in the old nursery rhyme "One misty moisty morning"?
>
>And btw - speaking as a woman, and a feminist from way back at that, the idea of "moist" being offensive sounds pretty silly to me. I think the original poster's student was making snowballs for other people to throw.
>-Kate

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org