More on "moist"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 8/9/2009 01:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Why no inkling?  I go with the the theory (borrowed from a post last year,
>unless it was me, in which case I take full credit) that the ickiness of
>"moist" is metalinguistic folklore. Once having gained a toehold
>in circulation, it has led to that magical combination of acclaim ("Wow! I
>never thought of that!"),  inadvertent "endorsement" ("I don't believe it,
>but I'll ask X !  He/she will know!/ be amused!/ pass it on!"), and virality
>("People are saying it online! It's gotta be important/true!") that leads to
>language change, all while bringing the Apocalypse just that much nearer.

As Robert Hume wrote, "Once a factual error is on the Internet, it is
virtually ineradicable, for it will be picked up and repeated."

(Well, he didn't really write "on the Internet", but mutatis mutandis ...)

Joel

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