Thursday, August 25, 2016

What word do you really hate?



For many who speak the English language, it appears to be "moist." Maybe its a sensory situation, a tactile visual inserting itself upon a word. Maybe people just have had bad experiences with rain or saunas. Who knows?

Oxford Dictionaries has started a worldwide poll to determine the least liked word. Early word choices are in, and they vary mainly by culture, "Moist" leads the pack in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, while a simple "hello" really girds the loins of people in Spain. If certain Adele or Beatles songs come on the radio, I assume pandemonium occurs in the streets of Madrid.

The poll continues, as researchers hope to see tens of thousands of more respondents. So if your hatred for "ergonomic" is as passionate as you know others feel, now is the time to speak up.




"Ergonomic" is largely the lovechild of science and marketing creating the worst possible word. First appearing in 1949, the word combines the Greek "ergon," meaning work, and simply added on the "nomic" which was deliberately stolen from the word "economic." Thus, a new word was lazily created for the sake of marketing and a very small field of science.

This is why some people shouldn't be allowed to play with words.




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