# Normal words that are funny
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 14, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241 "2008-05-14T03:12:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/1 "2008-05-14T03:12:04Z")
Rubble
Yep. Rubble. I grew up with The Flintstones and knew of Barney well before I knew there was an actual word “rubble.”
I’m sorry, but when people in the news are being pulled from the “rubble” I smirk.
You?
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/2 "2008-05-14T03:18:50Z")
And I put this in the wrong group. Help! :smack:
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/3 "2008-05-14T03:19:23Z")
Pork.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/4 "2008-05-14T03:23:54Z")
Bird. Say it a few times. Bird. Bird bird bird bird bird.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/5 "2008-05-14T03:24:33Z")
Plummet.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/6 "2008-05-14T03:47:22Z")
May I offer Spooch Theory? It’s the idea that certain sounds are intrinsically funny, and that surrounding these funny sounds with hard sounds will trap the humor in the word.
One intrinsically funny sound is the “oo” sound. In “spoon”, the effect is minimized, because the humor is free to run out over the relatively soft “n”. If we change the “n” to a “ch”, we contain the humor. “Spooch” would be a funny word, if only it were a word.
“Ghost” = not funny. “Spook” = funny. See?
So all we need to do is find words with the right configuration of sounds. Let’s start with the “qu” sound. “K” is also funny, and a hard sound, so let’s try for some combos:
quack
kumquat
quirk
Now, go forth and spooch. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/7 "2008-05-14T03:52:32Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan]
Rubble
Yep. Rubble. I grew up with The Flintstones and knew of Barney well before I knew there was an actual word “rubble.”
I’m sorry, but when people in the news are being pulled from the “rubble” I smirk.
[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t you rather grimace? Then I’d think of the big purple guy.
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### Author:  [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/8 "2008-05-14T05:05:01Z")
gizzard
scrotum
rubbernecking
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/9 "2008-05-14T05:07:39Z")
Tartlet.
Tartlet.
Tartlet.
The word has lost all meaning…
Joe
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/10 "2008-05-14T05:19:50Z")
All the ones in [thi sketch](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=GW9ibWViddU). (Ignore the Mario stuff.)
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/11 "2008-05-14T06:19:12Z")
When my son was a baby, I used to get him laughing with funny vegetable names.
“Aaah-ROOO-gala! Rutabaga! Parsnip! Calabash!”
“hee hee hee hee hee!!!”
“Patty-pan! Jicama! Romanza! Brrrrrussel Sprrrrrouts!”
“Heee heee heee heee heee!!!”
Babies are fun!
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/12 "2008-05-14T07:34:07Z")
Was.
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### Author:  [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/13 "2008-05-14T07:50:36Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad]
Was.
[/QUOTE]
You’re weird :).
Of course, the rest of us who find other completely ordinary words funny are perfectly normal.
I like luggage, titillated, and buttocks - not necessarily in that order.
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/14 "2008-05-14T12:38:07Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia]
Bird. Say it a few times. Bird. Bird bird bird bird bird.
[/QUOTE]
I once had a GF who had a fish named Bird. FishBird. Fish Bird. FishBird.
Is that you Pom?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/15 "2008-05-14T13:04:27Z")
Another funny vegetable: Rhubarb.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/16 "2008-05-14T14:07:02Z")
My husband likes to say toboggan.
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/17 "2008-05-14T16:40:37Z")
Pants. Especially if you stretch it out a little. Paaants.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/18 "2008-05-14T17:09:01Z")
Poop.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/19 "2008-05-14T17:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam]
Poop.
[/QUOTE]
Grunt.
Yet.
Marsupial.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-words-that-are-funny/449241/20 "2008-05-14T17:47:59Z")
Plutocrat. I think of Mickey’s dog with a crown.
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