What is your least favorite word? Let’s narrow it down a bit. It must be:
In English
Common
Well-understood (i.e. everyone knows what it means)
Clean (i.e. won’t offend Granny Hamous, though it might make her uncomfortable)
A single word (phrases are in a different category)
In general, it just sounds icky.
For Zoë Triska, it just happens to be the word panties. I agree with her that it is a “bad” word, maybe even top (bottom?) five, but it is certainly not the worst.
You know what word I can’t stand hearing? “Panties.”
The word “panties” earns my vote for “worst word of all time.” But there are plenty of people who find it perfectly acceptable.
That’s the way of the worst word. It’s different for different people. These words do tend to congregate on the worst word lists of many people.
And, it turns out, many of us are bothered by seemingly random words. Last year, we asked our readers to contribute the words they shuddered upon hearing, and they assailed “moist,” “viscous,” and “maggots,” among others.
Some words on my own list – in no particular order (also assisted by the comments in the link):
Panties (is there a singular form? pantie? panty?)
Bra
Moist
Fecund
Suckle
Nipple (not really on mine, but Yellow Hair can hardly say it unless it refers to a baby bottle)
Penis (close to the edge of Granny’s tolerance…)
Peeve (actually a split decision – noun is ok, verb – not)
Briefs (clothing, not legal)
What are yours?