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Words which set your teeth on edge

 
  

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■
17:45 / 15.09.04
Ah, but then some of us have a whole other language to use:
Stoshus
Fou'
Reekin'
Hingin'
Why use drunk when you have those to play with?

btw, the Ice Cream thing was just an observation. I don't have any problem with either. 'erb I can deal with, as dictionary.com helpfully points out what I had suspected, that it's a hangover from French pronunciation which some people changed, some didn't. C'est la vie.

(Un cheval, pas de glue. Beaucoup de glue, pas de cheval. C'est la vie. C'est merde pour le cheval.... Qui est Charlie Croker?)

Noticed another one at work today. To holiday, as a verb. Not strictly wrong, just sounds bad!
 
 
deja_vroom
18:59 / 15.09.04
I once heard "to pork" as a verb for having sex, and, quite disgusted, and even getting the meaning right from the context, I refused to acknowledge I had understood it, only to hear my zany interlocutor say "boink" as a substitute.

Also: "Interlocutor". And "zany".
 
 
■
20:38 / 15.09.04
If you're going to use "doink" or "pork", then try to be more imaginative. Roger's Profanisaurus has some wonderful (and apalling) terms for the act. My favourite euphemism comes from Australia, and refers to a lady's front bottom: "Mapatasi" (abbr. of Map of Tasmania)... Sorry, had to share.
 
 
Tom Tit's Tot: A Girl!
21:30 / 15.09.04
Right.

Being an American that fate has cast upon the rain-spattered shores of the UK, I feel quite set upon concerning my pronunciation of that damnned word, herb.

Often my British "friends" will take the piss liberally, quoting Izzard "There's a fucking 'h' in it!" At which point I dickslap them and encourage them to pronounce the word honesty with the 'h'. See? If an 'h' comes before a vowel, we often make it silent. Even in Britain. So lay off the American pronunciation jabs, for fuck's sake.

It's just a sore point, considering how often I have had that conversation.

Orientate, to me, sounds retarded. The additional '-ate' makes it mean "to face east" according to a linguist friend of mine, but I think orient sounds only slightly less moronic. We need a better word in these instances.

Hen when used in reference to women, makes me want to shit battery acid. Especially when from a middle-aged Edinburgh man's mouth aimed at my wife. Must... kill... cab driver...

Mate or pal used to refer to every fucking person you ever see EVER in your entire fucking life! Especially when prefixed with "a'right" by every person in this city.

*whew* I feel better now.
 
 
Ganesh
22:05 / 15.09.04
If an 'h' comes before a vowel, we often make it silent. Even in Britain.

And often we don't, particularly when the vowel in question is 'e'. 'Her', 'herring', 'heritage', 'hearse'... The English language ain't consistent. I guess the omitted 'h' in 'herb' just sounds weirdly arbitrary to ears on this side of the Atlantic - like a sudden, random injection of Cockney into a stream of Queen's English.

But I didn't start this thread to debate the correct pronunciation at length; I started it as a more subjective exercise in 'which words make you go eeeeee!' Whether someone is entitled to go eeeeee! is a different matter.
 
 
the Fool
23:37 / 15.09.04
Shelias - in reference to girls, an aussie thing.

couple together with 'root' - to have sex...

I'm orf ta root sum shelias, maaate!!!

the worst australia has to offer...
 
 
Baz Auckland
01:19 / 16.09.04
...that does sound awful.

"It's all good" makes me wince. Can't say why really, but it just irritates me... maybe because it's NOT all good when people say it...
 
 
rakehell
04:48 / 16.09.04
Ah, Fool, but it leads to some great jokes such as when people say they're "rooting for the team", or this exchange:

"Went to Sydney last week."
"Which route did you take?"
"My girlfriend."

Teh funny.

Irregardless I hate, and "unpaid overtime" but that's obvious.

Egg is the one that really gets me. I like eggs, but the word, when I think abot it just makes no sense to me. Spelling, pronounciation, everything. I sometimes quietly chat it to myself and feel it becoming more and more surreal.

Tell me I'm not the only one...
 
 
Olulabelle
15:00 / 16.09.04
Glistening and moist and gusset. Especially in the same sentence. Not that anyone ever has said them to me in the same sentence, but if they did I would have to run away screaming.
 
 
Cat Chant
15:20 / 16.09.04
Fool/rakehell: "roots" is a good word for promoting cross-cultural hilarity, as I found out when I took my Australian gf to our local vegetarian cafe, Roots and Fruits, and she wouldn't stop laughing. (Other good moments included finding a second-hand fantasy/SF novel called Crisis on Doona.)

Sorry for threadrot. There must be words I can't bear, but I can't think of any... Oh, make love, when used as an antonym for "have sex" or "fuck", but that's really a mindset I hate, not a vocabulary issue. (Like, you know, "I have sex with prostitutes, but I make love to my wife" eeeeeewwwww)
 
 
Char Aina
16:41 / 16.09.04
if you havent seen eddie murphy's 'raw', deva, you should.

i have to admit loving the root(my favourite pun on that has always been "deeply rooted") colloquialism, and genrally all linguistic quirks the australians have... except that shit where EVERYTHING gets abbreviated and ends in -o or or -y... (even words where it ends up being longer! how's that useful?) i dont hate it, but i hate the folks who overuse it.

no worries is exceptionally infectious, as is x really shits me for almost anything upsetting.
 
 
Baz Auckland
02:02 / 17.09.04
The 'Roots' word is great, if only because of the brand of clothing the stupid Canadian Olympic Team displays... I'm sure it went over well during the Sydney games...




(check out the website for Leather Roots, Womens and Men's Roots, and disturbingly, Baby Roots...
 
 
Squirmelia
11:32 / 17.09.04
I dislike:

Gyp
Manky
Ming
Skanky
Woot
 
 
Alex's Grandma
12:12 / 17.09.04
Pikey, as a derogatory term, applied to individuals from a Romany background. Really, it's just as bad as " nigger " or " paki, " so congrats to Guy Ritchie for bringing it back into everyday use.
 
 
Bear
12:12 / 17.09.04
Manky? Manky is great sounding word!
 
 
_Boboss
12:44 / 17.09.04
pikey's a weird one - i believe the jury's still out on it being a specifically romany slur. for year's i've used 'i'm a pikey' to mean 'i haven't got any money today'.

here's one - i can't decide whether i love it or hate it, so i'm willing to just bend with the general opinion:

Hand-Shandy

(ming, skanky and manky are all top-class words imhobtwxxx)
 
 
Haus of Mystery
12:49 / 17.09.04
Working for an evil corporation for two years exposed me to a lot of words that while seeming harmless enough became hateful and insidious the more they were used to explain to you how more of your privileges were being removed. Case in point:
'CASCADE' - as in can you 'cascade' this information throughout your department. As in someone else can pass on this shitty peice of news while I play solitaire and download pictures oif Carol Vorderman.
'STREAMLINING' - you're fired monkey-boy!
'RESTRUCTURING/RELOCATION' - FIRED!
And so on. Ngh.

On a purely personal note the word 'titties' sets my teeth to grind mode. And utterly kills my sex drive.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
14:09 / 17.09.04
Irish traveller rather than Romany, I believe. There's quite a biug discussion of it here.
 
 
_Boboss
14:28 / 17.09.04
cool, i get a pass on irish.
 
 
■
20:11 / 17.09.04
Boobs
Now there's a word to turn any straight man off the idea of sex instantaneously.
 
 
Tom Tit's Tot: A Girl!
10:26 / 20.09.04
Boobs is redeemed by Boobies! which should always be spelled with an exclamation point and pronounced like an excited child on Christmas morning.

Boobies!
 
 
Ex
11:09 / 20.09.04
If we're in amongst the filthwords, then "mossy" and "cleft". Seperately or combined.
Hard on the ears and conceptually awfully: Moss? Growing round one's woo-wah? Wouldn't that be a sign you haven't been up to much (or washed) lately? And "cleft" is too much like a verb ("cleft in twain"), or a mountain foothold.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
11:26 / 20.09.04
cool, i get a pass on irish.

No, you don't. Irish traveller. Different thing.

Meanwhile, Whichever Comic Changed Rob Frost's Life This Month in the Discordia thread in the Temple is beginning to destroy my will to live.

Would of. Could of. Should of.

GGRRRNNNNARRRRGGGGHHHHHTINFOIL
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
11:33 / 20.09.04
Anyone who thinks that "boobies" with a sodding fucking exclamation mark is preferable to or redeems anything needs years of therapy to help them get over their helplessly infantile attitude to sex.

But that would take time and money, so it might be easier for all of us if they just let me bless them with the blessed face-knife. See! It is sharp! It is blessed.
 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
13:05 / 20.09.04
Urgh. So many bad words for sex. Can the linguists amongst us tell me if Anglo languages have, as I suspect(due to our fucked-upness) more crap sex euphemisms.

Actually, can I have an entire category - crap euphemistic references to sex/ual organs. I hatessss them.

such as

knobbing. Which I recently actually overheard someone in a pub use.
 
 
Papess
14:04 / 20.09.04
My all time top language peeve is,"anyways"

Not a word!, not a word!, not a bloody word!

The worst is, I have not only heard people being this lazy with their tongues, I have seen people type "anyway" out in plural. That takes a special effort.
 
 
Whisky Priestess
15:46 / 20.09.04
Arms/Flyboy:

Call me an old softie, but I think if you re-read Tom Tit Tot's post you may discover just a soupcon of a hint of a whisper of irony in it, so I think your sweary enthusiasm for carving hir up with the face-knife may be a bit premature.

And while we're on the subject: Spooge (for ejaculate [the noun]). Just ew.
 
 
Tom Tit's Tot: A Girl!
16:25 / 20.09.04
Anyone who thinks that "boobies" with a sodding fucking exclamation mark is preferable to or redeems anything needs years of therapy to help them get over their helplessly infantile attitude to sex.

But that would take time and money, so it might be easier for all of us if they just let me bless them with the blessed face-knife. See! It is sharp! It is blessed.


As much as I appreciate Whisky Priestess' effort to redeem my honour, I must admit, there is a trace of irony intended in my previous post. I do, however, say boobies! semi-regularly. However, I would submit that it beats tits (which I hate) breasts (not bad, but too impersonal) and any other variant on the theme, such as melons, fun-bags, love-pillows, bazooms, all of which are much more stab deserving.

Also, my wife says that "boobies" is a friendly term.

Besides which, if you can't have a bit of silly, playful, fun with your spouse, who can you have it with?

Mind you, I'd never say boobies! during an intimate moment. That would just be fucked up.

If face-stabbing is still required, I'll meet you tomorrow at noon on the stone bridge. Knife fight!
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
16:28 / 20.09.04
Besides which, if you can't have a bit of silly, playful, fun with your spouse, who can you have it with?

Gyles Brandreth.
 
 
Smoothly
16:42 / 20.09.04


Caaantsss!
 
 
Tom Tit's Tot: A Girl!
16:45 / 20.09.04
I hate "The Bloodhound Gang."

Obnoxious bastards. They just had to use the word, didn't they?

Now what can I call them?

*sobbing wetly into tissue*
 
 
Papess
16:46 / 20.09.04
And while we're on the subject: Spooge (for ejaculate [the noun]). Just ew.

Whiskey Priestess, you are reading my mind. I thought of that one just after I posted. I am going to add though..

gizz and/or spunk
 
 
Benny the Ball
17:24 / 20.09.04
Sorry to go off thread here, "Pikey"; the original Romany travellers are traced as coming from northern India, so is Pikey a bastardisation of "Paki"?
 
 
Warewullf
19:32 / 20.09.04
Manky? Manky is great sounding word!

It is indeed. And used quite regularly in Dublin. I love it but use it sparingly. It must be savoured.

Oh, I've only recently discovered Teh and it's already pissed me off no end. At least its not actually spoken...
 
 
flufeemunk effluvia
19:48 / 20.09.04
Egg is the one that really gets me. I like eggs, but the word, when I think abot it just makes no sense to me. Spelling, pronounciation, everything. I sometimes quietly chat it to myself and feel it becoming more and more surreal.

Good god, you're right. I get like that with a lot of words after a while. Try it with squeegee, whole, and string. Dastardly. Makes you wanna be a linguist.
 
  

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