More on "moist"

[Wilson Gray]

"Moist" offensive or unpleasant, though it occurs in TV and radio ads
for various lotions and other skin-care products thousands of times a
day, 24/7/365?

Somebody must is done lost his mind!

-Wilson

On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      More on "moist"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The Archives do not wish to disgorge very much of last year's discussion of
> the allegedd offensiveness of this word.
>
> Just heard on NPR's quiz show "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" which I find
> _highly_ offensive for its unfunniness, that users of FaceBook have declared
> the word "moist" to be the most unpleasant word in English (or on FaceBook -
> sorry I didn't hear the entire thing).
>
> The show then quoted a linguist (one of us?) who suggested that
> the perceived putridity may come from the "oi" diphthong. Why a humble
> diphthong should be considered offensive went unexplored.
>
> I suspect anti-Brooklyn/Bowery Boy bigotry in representations of NYC
> speech.  Am very offended by all of it.
>
> JL
>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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