# Is it a thing that certain written words are kind of intolerable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2020, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404 "2020-04-23T03:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/1 "2020-04-23T03:33:51Z")
So um… I know it’s a thing where all of a sudden a word sounds funny, right? I think everyone has had that experience, where you think about a word like “salad” and go wait, that sounds silly. A bit ago I was typing a FB post, and it included the word “people” several times. Ugh, that still bugs me. Anyway, before I posted it I read through, and I was SURE that I had misspelled "people:. It just looked wrong. Really wrong, almost offensively wrong. I Googled just to make sure. Looked up dictionary results, just to be sure. Checked out OK, but I was still was pretty uncomfortable with the word “people”. Hesitated posting it because I was pretty sure I still got it wrong, and I’d be ridiculed for repeating the same misspelling. Still am, in fact. Post got likes and laughs, but I can’t shake the fact that it still looks wrong. Actually, I’m kind of disliking he word “wrong” at the moment. people Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/2 "2020-04-23T03:39:16Z")
Got some good shit there **Sicks**? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/3 "2020-04-23T03:43:00Z")
It happens with many words if you just stare or think of them long enough. For a long time I could not tell if friends should be friends or freinds. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/4 "2020-04-23T03:43:02Z")
There’s a well documented phenomenon of word aversion, notoriously to the word “moist”, which apparently triggers a visceral reaction in about 20% of the population. > **[Probing the Moist Crevices of Word Aversion](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/probing-the-moist-crevices-of-word-aversion/)** > > Why do some words make people uncomfortable?  But I’m not sure that’s what you’re experiencing. You say “intolerable”, but from the further explanation you give is sounds more like just feeling that the spelling looks wrong? That’s something I’ve experienced too - sometimes just “thinking too hard” about the correct spelling for an ordinary word that I obviously do know, and then finding that all possible spellings including what I rationally know is the correct spelling _all_ now look wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/5 "2020-04-23T03:57:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Got some good shit there **Sicks**? 🆒 Yeah, no. Illegal here still, and I’m subject to testing. 😉 > [@Riemann](#): > > There’s a well documented phenomenon of word aversion, notoriously to the word “moist”, which apparently triggers a visceral reaction in about 20% of the population. > > [Probing the Moist Crevices of Word Aversion | Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/probing-the-moist-crevices-of-word-aversion/) > > But I’m not sure that’s what you’re experiencing. You say “intolerable”, but from the further explanation you give is sounds more like just feeling that the spelling looks wrong? That’s something I’ve experienced too - sometimes just “thinking too hard” about the correct spelling for an ordinary word that I obviously do know, and then finding that all possible spellings including what I rationally know is the correct spelling _all_ now look wrong. I’ve read or listened to things about that, and none of the most off-putting words have ever bothered me. It’s partially the spelling, maybe? I’d say so, but it’s more the way the spelling looks, if that makes sense. Most competent readers don’t read the spelling, right? But when I hit that word right now, my brain hiccups and pauses, then rewinds. Like dude, you’re reading jus’ fine but there’s a speedbump because something is wrong here. But…nothing is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/6 "2020-04-23T04:17:50Z")
I misspelled “receive” on a college quiz. I was… well, embarrassed enough to remember it, anyway. It was a French vocabulary quiz- the kind where the teacher says the word and you write it and then write the French word. I got “recevoir” correct, but misspelled the English word. I know I before E except after C. I just… wasn’t thinking about that? Lots of words with unnecessary "U"s look wrong to me. Restaurant (where I guess the U isn’t unnecessary, but misplaced- “restaraunt” seems closer to how it’s pronounced), bouquet, um… those are all I can think of. I thought “Shepherd” looked wrong for quite a while and could have sworn it was “sheperd” or “shepard.” I was embarrassingly old when I realized that the word is “Beetles” and not “Beatles” because like 85% of the times I had ever seen the word written, it was spelled “Beatles” and it didn’t occur to me that it was misspelled because it was a pun. LOTS of people, including people who are generally good spellers, get “Duchess” wrong. “Judgment” seems like it’s missing an E. “Cemetery” probably stole it and stuck it in where an A obviously belongs- Cemetary. I had a lot of trouble with “gross” as a child. I sort of assumed it was a different word from the one I figured should be spelled “grose” or “groce” and that it meant the same thing, but should be pronounced to rhyme with “cross.” “Cross,” meaning slightly angry, was one of those words I encountered a lot in the books I read and never ever heard anyone use in real life, so it made total sense to me that in the slightly archaic/British language of my books, they just used a different word that meant the same thing. I argued with my mom when she corrected me on that. There’s no way “gross” is pronounced that way. That’s dumb. I still sometimes mentally rhyme it with “cross” when I’m reading something to myself. And finally, I lost a sort of bar-event spelling bee on the word “wainscoting” a few years ago. My opponent had “whatchamacallit.” Why in God’s name does “wainscoting” only have one T? To spite me. That’s why. I just looked it up (I had never heard of it before the spelling bee) and apparently it’s sometimes pronounced to rhyme with “boating,” which would make the single T less stupid, but when I heard it, it rhymed with “plotting.” Or “rotting” or “trotting” or “spotting” or "knotting,’ all of which, you might notice, have a double T. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/7 "2020-04-23T04:50:11Z")
“Yahweh” still sends me into a tizzy. Oh no, there it is again! AHHHHHHHH!!! ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/8 "2020-04-23T18:32:45Z")
I’m guessing this is different from [semantic satiation?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/9 "2020-04-23T20:55:00Z")
When writing or typing, I pronounce the word (silently–to myself) as PEE-O-PULL just because I found the spelling surprising and had to know it for the test. Wierd that I still do that. As far as “moist” bothering people, I can’t help thinking that it’s like being afraid of clowns: I don’t doubt it’s sincere for some people but I strongly suspect it’s just fashionable for most. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/10 "2020-04-23T20:56:26Z")
Awry. That word is just WRONG! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/11 "2020-04-23T22:03:38Z")
Great, now I can’t stop hearing Charlton Heston shouting “It’s PEEEEOPLE!” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/12 "2020-04-23T22:38:41Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > There’s a well documented phenomenon of word aversion, notoriously to the word “moist”, which apparently triggers a visceral reaction in about 20% of the population. > > [Probing the Moist Crevices of Word Aversion | Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/probing-the-moist-crevices-of-word-aversion/) That’s funny; I’ve been watching episodes of 8 Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown on YouTube and [Susie Dent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susie_Dent), the lexicographer on the show, has mentioned her aversion to the word moist a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/13 "2020-04-23T22:44:26Z")
What about \*\*doing \*\*and **going** , they always look like they should rhyme with **boing**. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/14 "2020-04-23T22:50:44Z")
What about \*\*doing \*\*and **going** , they always look like they should rhyme with **boing**. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/15 "2020-04-23T22:53:46Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Great, now I can’t stop hearing Charlton Heston shouting “It’s PEEEEOPLE!” Haha!! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/16 "2020-04-24T01:23:27Z")
I saw a documentary once about a guy who found the name “Niagara Falls” intolerable. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/17 "2020-04-24T19:50:18Z")
A phrase: “Trust me.” Grab the flamethrower. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/18 "2020-04-24T22:57:08Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I saw a documentary once about a guy who found the name “Niagara Falls” intolerable. Slowly I turned… ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/19 "2020-04-25T17:20:42Z")
Diarrhea. What the Hell is that ‘H’ doing in there? It’s wrong! Bugs me every tine I see it. Same with hemorrhoids. Bloody 'H’s. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404/20 "2020-04-25T18:01:38Z")
“Moist” is definitely an icky word, but for me it’s close relative “Toilet” has a far greater YUCK aspect. That word has made me cringe since childhood. It’s disgusting at a visceral level. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-thing-that-certain-written-words-are-kind-of-intolerable/852404.md?page=2)