# Ladies; The Word "Moist" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259 "2007-02-22T18:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/1 "2007-02-22T18:57:53Z")
A morning radio show here in L.A. has a person they talk to occasionally who cannot stand the word **moist**. She audibly freaks out when she hears the word, it is really torture for her to hear it. Seemed to be an individual with an odd characteristic. So this morning they had her on so they could discuss a recent episode of _How I Met Your Mother?_ wherein the cahracter played Alyson Hannigan similarly cannot hear the word **moist** with a identical reaction. So they talked to the writer of that episode of the show and she claimed she had no knowledge of the person discussed on the show. her claim was that about half the women in her office cannot stand the word **moist** and it seemed to be a natural word to use in this case. My question: Is she right, do a large number of women freak out at the word **moist**? Does it cause you to grind your teeth and clench your fists? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/2 "2007-02-22T19:02:38Z")
Doesn’t bother me. Said in the right tone it can sound sort of gross and/or dirty, but it’s hardly worth a freak-out. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/3 "2007-02-22T19:07:36Z")
Well, I’m not a lady - but I had a ladyfriend about 10 years ago who had the same reaction to the word “moist”. Visible recoil, fingers in ears, lalalalalala. I figured it was something funny she picked up somewhere. But that definitely pre-dates the radio show and How I Met Your Mother. (In fact, it was the first time I thought about her in about 10 years - when I saw that episode of HIMYM). Where does stuff like this come from?! ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/4 "2007-02-22T19:09:10Z")
I have met women who can’t stand the word “moist.” No men have ever mentioned it to me. Same deal with “panties.” ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/5 "2007-02-22T19:26:10Z")
This was a minor plot point in “Dead Like Me” as well. Georgia’s mother didn’t like to hear the word “moist.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/6 "2007-02-22T19:26:51Z")
“Moist” is definitely an oogy word. OTOH, I can handle “moisten” without flinching. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/7 "2007-02-22T19:27:57Z")
My wife hates the word for some unknowable reason. She won’t even use it to describe cake. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/8 "2007-02-22T19:29:22Z")
Eh, it’s a little like sandpaper on a nerve, but not freak worthy. I would like to mention, however, that just like the word, “panties” with perfect timing, and in the right context can totally MAKE a joke…So I use it when I think that’s the spice a well delivered one liner will need to kill. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/9 "2007-02-22T19:29:39Z")
My friends and I, male and female, all hate that word. Just sounds nasty to us. One of my friends thinks the word glitter is gross too… ---
**Author:** ![lilflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecccb3/32.png) [@lilflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilflower)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/10 "2007-02-22T19:29:40Z")
I totally related to Lily on How I Met Your Mother. There is something about that word that conjures up images of dark, hot, sweaty nether-regions of one’s body - and not the good regions. It’s probably related to some deeply repressed memory of hearing that word in a commercial for a feminine product of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/11 "2007-02-22T19:36:44Z")
The word “moist” makes me :snerk: ever since I saw Eddy Murphy’s “The Nutty Professor”. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/12 "2007-02-22T19:44:00Z")
Wow. My ex-wife is the same way. She mentioned this to me in 1988 and it was a running joke with her and her friend for a couple of years before that. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/13 "2007-02-22T19:46:06Z")
My male roommate has the same aversion. Same with “crotch.” He’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/14 "2007-02-22T19:48:43Z")
I have definitely heard of this phenomenon before the last few years. Yes, mostly from women. I have heard the somewhat satisfying explanation that the mouth needs to make an uncomfortable set of motions to produce it. It always strikes me as odd when it turns up in commercials for cake and brownie mixes. I have even heard, in that context, the term “moister”. The sets even my nerves on edge a bit. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/15 "2007-02-22T19:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] I have definitely heard of this phenomenon before the last few years. Yes, mostly from women. I have heard the somewhat satisfying explanation that the mouth needs to make an uncomfortable set of motions to produce it. [/QUOTE] I dunno 'bout that. It’s not that far off from, say, “boisterous”, which I’ve never heard of a problem with. Or even “choice”. But yeah, now that you mention it, “Moist” does kinda squick me out. To me, it’s almost onomatopoetic for the noise a scalpel makes when cutting open a frog, or a hand ripping out pumpkin guts. That squelchy-gooey sound effect from Saturday morning cartoons. “Moist.” _shiver_ And there’s definitely vaginal connotations involved. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/16 "2007-02-22T19:58:57Z")
Well now I feel like a freak. That word actually gets me kinda hot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/17 "2007-02-22T20:10:04Z")
Moist-- not so much. Panties-- right up there on the oogy scale. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/18 "2007-02-22T20:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Honey] Well now I feel like a freak. That word actually gets me kinda hot. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m a guy and “moist” is a turn on for me, so is “wet”. BTW my butt is moist right now. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/19 "2007-02-22T20:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Honey] Well now I feel like a freak. That word actually gets me kinda hot. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Hello!? I had a girlfriend that used that word to let me know she was horny. It has good connotations for me. 😃 But not in the way it’s used in post #18 :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259/20 "2007-02-22T20:24:52Z")
That was in the old Spark gender test - “What word is intrinsically grosser?” Moist or used. Moist is absolutely grosser. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-the-word-moist/393259.md?page=2)