Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Is there an official term for "unreasonable dislike of certain words"?

One of the least pleasant-sounding words in the English language is probably "gubbins" - British slang for "miscellaneous items". A for-instance would be "Here's the rest of the gubbins to go in the file". 


It's probably just me, because a good part of the unreasonable dislike I feel for the word originates from a very reasonable dislike of the person who uses it all the time. Whatever, that word just sets my teeth on edge. Today my teeth actually squeaked from the force with which they came together... or maybe that was due to the orange I'd just eaten. 

That orange, however, only accounts for the squeak, not the irritation.  

1 comment:

Anu said...

...and that's exactly how a very ordinary word like 'conversation' sets my hackles going...I actually counted once - 'Cruella' used it 41 times in the course of a half-hour telecon!