What is your least favourite word?

[carteki]

So on Polish Facebook, are the people who you've approved called "przyjaciel" or "znajomy"? (Is Facebook wording it correctly?)

I had the same question

Turns out its Znajomy (I changed the language settings on my app to find out).

[Peter Why]

In English, I (very privately) divide the people who would normally be called "friends" into "friends" and "friendly acquaintances". I read somewhere, possibly in one of the early Len Deighton novels, that Russian has at least two words for what would be called "friends" in English (one was "droog"), which the author described by whether they would conceal you from the police.

Peter

[k5hsj]

As a non-native speaker I could look at this question from several perspectives:
- the word I dislike most based on its sound

This reminds me of my 9th grade English teacher, who once told our class that she thought the contraction of "were not" was the ugliest word in English (you have to pronounce it with the harsh American "r" to get the full effect). She said that it sounded like a hog feeding at the trough.

Winston

[MARTIN GEESON]

On the basis of sound, I dislike the word lozenge. Some may think it a semi-onomatopœic term for a chewable or suckable cough-drop, but for some reason it makes me think of a caterpillar or slug, compressing itself, arching its back to pursue its oozy path.

Martin

[MaryinArkansas]

I can't think of any one word in particular. However, it drives me absolutely crazy when people mispronounce "just" as "jest". When someone says: "Jest a minute" or "I caught that jest in time," to my ears it's like fingernails screeching across a chalkboard! I don't understand the mispronunciation at all. I've never heard the word "justice" mispronounced. We don't say: "There is no jestice" or "Chief Jestice of the Supreme Court". But why does "just" so often become "jest"?

And that's the end of my ranting for now...

[SonOfTheExiles]

"which the author described by whether they would conceal you from the police."

Friends versus mates, as it were.

SOTE

[JorWat]

Asked.

The /skt/ combination is really awkward to say. There's almost no way to say it without sounding like 'ah-sih-kuh-tuh' said quickly (or in howjsay's case, at normal speed). No wonder some people say 'arsed' instead!

[gypsygirl]

Asked.

The /skt/ combination is really awkward to say. There's almost no way to say it without sounding like 'ah-sih-kuh-tuh' said quickly (or in howjsay's case, at normal speed). No wonder some people say 'arsed' instead!

Just go old-school and pronounce it with two syllables - ask-ed

[wildemoose]

The hardest word to say in the English language is "clasped." It is like three syllables mushed into one, and the s and p make two sounds that are impossible to say next to each other. The word comes up a LOT in the Anne of Green Gables books.

[AdeledePignerolles]

I have problems with the word "specific" and "pacific".

[MBraymiller]

I do not like the word oubliette. Why give a dank, scary dungeon a title that sounds like an obscure dance move, or a fancy bath fixture?

[MARTIN GEESON]

I worry about words which popular culture uses to enforce a concept which should be questioned. Instead, these quickly become entrenched in soap opera, becoming shorthand for collections of emotions which those of us living Real Lives are supposed to experience: yes, I mean words like closure, commitment - these grandiose abstract nouns which are meant to define our lives. "I need closure", "You avoid commitment", etc. Are you "being a good Dad"? - Are you living up (down?) to the model of behaviour prescribed by trashy television drama?

Things have happened in my life which were not rounded off with a sufficient explanation. I swear to you, I do not suffer from the absence of "closure". That's just the way life is - untidy. I have felt tremendously drawn to certain persons; then circumstances have prevented me from cleaving unto them lifelong. I do not convict myself or others of a failure of "commitment". It just wasn't on the cards, that's all. Life flows on. Unfortunately we do not live in half-hour episodes.

Sigh
Martin

[Piotrek81]

I do not like the word oubliette. Why give a dank, scary dungeon a title that sounds like an obscure dance move, or a fancy bath fixture?

I've never heard that word. Thanks for sharing. I'd never guessed its meaning. I'm assuming it must have something to do it the French word "oublier"= "to forget" (it remind me of a phrase "lock him up and throw away the key").

[JorWat]

I do not like the word oubliette. Why give a dank, scary dungeon a title that sounds like an obscure dance move, or a fancy bath fixture?

I've never heard that word. Thanks for sharing. I'd never guessed its meaning. I'm assuming it must have something to do it the French word "oublier"= "to forget" (it remind me of a phrase "lock him up and throw away the key").

You are correct. Though I'm sure there are a couple of steps in between...

[chocoholic]

[off topic]

My favorite word (well, pair of words) this month is matrix metalloproteinase. I just like the way it sounds in my head.

I was once told that the way I pronounce "on" is weird, so I have no comment about words that are hard to say. (That was long before Librivox.)