11/28/2023 0 Comments Yaters gonna yate meaning![]() ![]() ![]() It's evolutionary, to protect us from something bad (as with our distaste for the word rat).We can't help it it's a visceral response.They are gross (in meaning, or maybe in mouthfeel).They make us feel disgusted for whatever reason.In a piece full of hated words- moist, it's always moist, isn't it? It's also squab, cornucopia, panties, navel, brainchild, crud, slacks, crevice, and fudge-Malady digs deeper, providing us with an array of reasons certain words might bother us. But of course we're all experts! Who may better say what we like and don't like, after all, than our own selves? The answer is no one.Īnd so, as Malady writes, word aversion is a real thing, identified by the real experts, the linguists, themselves: "In a recent post on Language Log, University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman defined the concept as 'a feeling of intense, irrational distaste for the sound or sight of a particular word or phrase, not because its use is regarded as etymologically or logically or grammatically wrong, nor because it’s felt to be over-used or redundant or trendy or non-standard, but simply because the word itself somehow feels unpleasant or even disgusting.'" ![]() And we each consider ourselves experts on the subject, whether we truly are or not. (If you don't believe that people love to hate certain words, delve into our comprehensive dictionary of disliked 2012 words, just one handy refresher on the subject of "word aversion.") It is a certain truth that words are one of those things we all have opinions on, given that we all use them. Malady delves into the question of why we humans insist on taking such pleasure in hating words so vociferously. Ī lengthy piece at Slate today by Matthew J.X. This article is from the archive of our partner. ![]()
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