dirty words

I think what I love most about language is that with the right combinations, a series of words can be so much more than communicative. There is a sensuality to speaking that is too often forgotten about--especially now, when an acceptable sign-off to a conversation is something like "kthxbai." It seems like hardly anyone takes the time to speak eloquently anymore (at least in passing conversation. There has, at least, been a DRASTIC improvement in political eloquence since Obama took office. Whatever his faults, the man knows his way around a sentence).

The formation of a word is a very intimate thing, all lips and teeth and tongue. When a word feels good in the mouth, the impulse is to repeat it over and over. In the book Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry--which is wonderful, and you should go and read it, and I'm not saying that because I desperately wish I were Stephen Fry's friend (which I do)--there's a chapter where a young Fry (a small Fry? HA!) drives his mother crazy on long car rides by dreamily repeating little phrases over and over because he likes the way they feel. I remember reading that chapter and thinking Oh GOOD! I thought it was just me!!!! But it's not just me--I dare you to say the word "llama" ten times in a row. You won't be able to stop. Your mouth will want more. Trust me--I've done a series of rigorous empirical studies alone in my room at odd hours. Plus I have Calvin and Hobbes to back me up:




There's another side to the coin, though. God, that's a stupid expression. Of course there's another side to a coin. There's no such thing as a one-sided coin, and if there is, it's one of those things that physicists or Zen masters talk about--what is the sound of one hand clapping? Well gee, Frank, I'd say it's pretty similar to the sound of a one-sided coin being flipped.

What was I talking about? Right.

There are words that feel and sound unpleasant. I'm sure in many cases it's a personal thing, but how many people have you known that have recoiled at the word moist? I swear, nine out of ten people hate that word. And no wonder. It sort of slimes its way out of your mouth to droop damply in the air. Bleh. (And to think--this is a word that describes CAKE!)

I really do have serious word aversion problems. There are words I simply will not use, if I can help it. It makes it hard to play Boggle sometimes, because I spend precious seconds deciding whether or not I like a word enough to use it. I can't help myself. I don't like my words to have too many hard consonants--it sort of feels like I'm choking to get them out, and I don't like spitting on people when I'm trying to have a conversation. For a similar reason, I sort of dislike words that begin with "sl--." It's a difficult combination of letters to enunciate, and lots of words in that category have unpleasant connotations; slime, slug, sluggish, slack, sludge. There are lots of other words and sounds that I dislike, but I'm going to stop rambling on about them, because I'm grossing myself out. I will leave you with this (which I found AFTER I wrote this whole post, and pretty much makes my entire point in six panels...sigh...)