Worst Wacky Words: Marriotts Ridge Students Describe Words That Make Them Convulse
Billions of words are used every day by billions of people. There are words that describe emotions, movements, appearances and there are words that almost everyone simply despises.
Senior Toby Ijiyemi shared a word that makes many people cringe: “moist. You hear it, you feel it in your bones, it’s yucky, it’s icky. My knees sort of shake a little, that’s my honest reaction when I hear it.”
While many people believe that the aversion to “moist” has something to do with its pronunciation, this idea is dismissed when one realizes that similar-sounding words such as “hoist” are not rejected the same way.
Instead, “moist” has been despised for generations upon generations because of its context. Many people have negative connotations with the word, and associate it with sweating or phlegm — ew.
But what about slang? Parents get frustrated when their children bring wacky words back home that they don’t understand. Even teachers struggle to keep up with the new lingo that emerges every day.
Junior Vaughn Tralins explained that he hates the Australian slang for a water fountain: “Bubbler. Bubbler in that specific context makes me so angry because no water fountain in America bubbles and if you can show me one that does then you probably shouldn’t be drinking from it.”
Slang often originates from internet occurrences and pop culture, but it is very frustrating when the actual origin does not make sense in one’s culture.
Tralins said that when someone uses “bubbler”, “I want to punch them — not that I would because I don’t condone violence, but I really want to.” The rage, the hatred and the hidden anger can just be too much sometimes.
Another slang word that junior Rishika Talla loathes is the casual “dawg; it just sounds cringy.” When she hears that word being used, an uncomfortable stab of second-hand embarrassment flows through her and she can’t help but clench her teeth.
The word “no” is simple, but blunt. It can be uncomfortable to hear and to say for many people. In a difficult situation, it can sometimes be hard to say “no” for a few reasons. One, it can make the person saying it feel a sort of guilt for declining whatever they proposed, but it can also come off as rude or awkward to the other person.
“People tend to sugarcoat rejecting something or saying no,” junior Zoya Ali explained. For these reasons, many people find the word “no” to be an uncomfortable word. However, saying “no” is not the only way people dislike this word. Hearing the word “no” said to oneself can form feelings of disappointment or concern. For example, asking one’s parents if they can go out, only to not be able to, can be disappointing and frustrating.
Overall, there are, unfortunately, many funky words that exist in the English lexicon that definitely should not exist according to many students at Marriotts Ridge, creating icky and uncomfortable experiences.