# which: ugliest word in English ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443 "2005-03-07T22:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/41 "2005-03-08T14:00:51Z")
Heh, I don’t find any of these words objectionable. In fact, I can’t think of any that I would consider ugly. I love the English language, and I need all the words in it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/42 "2005-03-08T14:15:02Z")
Oh yeah?? How about kumquat? 😃 That’s gotta be the one of the reigning monarchs of the ugly words. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/43 "2005-03-08T14:48:24Z")
Is it possible they said “Which is the ugliest word in the english language?” and you didn’t hear the absense of quoatation marks and the presense of a question mark? 🙂 PS. I’d vote for something common, like ‘fish’. It’s a perfectly good word, but you just try using it in fifty sentances in a row, and then you just can’t believe it’s spelled like _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Sqwerticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Sqwerticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sqwerticus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/44 "2005-03-08T16:05:20Z")
Not one that bothers me that much, but it gets my sister going every time…makes her go all giddy and want to take her brain out and scrub it with bleach. The word is **girth**. She has always had issues with this word, and was particularly distressed when the Obstetrician kept wanting to measure hers. She said it tainted her pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/45 "2005-03-08T16:10:13Z")
I like kumquat, k’s and q’s are good g’s are bad. Kumquat seems quite poetic to me. Almost as good a word as quincunx or quinquefoliolate. Uh oh, girls use moist ointment for scabby pustules. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/46 "2005-03-08T16:14:12Z")
btw fish is spelled [ghoti](http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/199909.htm) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/47 "2005-03-08T16:17:59Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Is it possible they said “Which is the ugliest word in the english language?” and you didn’t hear the absense of quoatation marks and the presense of a question mark? Please see the text of the quotation I provided in my previous post. Quotations marks? Check. Lack of a question mark? Check. It looks like Gordon Allport really did have an aversion to the word “which” (at least in student theses). ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/48 "2005-03-08T16:31:14Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Uh oh, girls use moist ointment for scabby pustules. ::me has brain aneurysm:: ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/49 "2005-03-08T19:32:34Z")
_ **Smudge** _. You even make an ugly face saying it. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/50 "2005-03-08T19:41:18Z")
**Scrod** - It sounds like a venereal disease. StG ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/51 "2005-03-08T19:51:22Z")
gotta go with “cunt” being the ugliest word. Not only is mean to say to someone, something about just seems violent when you say it. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/52 "2005-03-09T00:42:00Z")
Damn anti-saxon prejudice. Or is it Anti-Angle prejudice? I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/53 "2005-03-09T17:05:46Z")
I think the really agressive sounding words are Saxon in origin. **Scott-paid** you are going to pay and become a member aren’t you? Allready I have noticed many good posts of yours. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/54 "2005-03-09T17:13:09Z")
Thanks, but I don’t know. I find it so hard to keep away from flaming whenever religion is brought up, and I am unable to see the other side of the argument, that I am afraid that I would soon be banded. Then again, I seem to contribute greatly to other discussions, judging from the number of times I get quoted. Not to mention the whole looking for work thing, and not being able to spare the money for a matinee to a movie, much less $14.95. oh, and masticate. That word keeps this post on topic. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/55 "2005-03-09T20:23:48Z")
> [@chukhung](#): > > I believe the author of that sentiment was actually Gordon W. Allport. Take a look at this [essay](http://hudce7.harvard.edu/~ostrowski/alm/epistle.pdf) (warning PDF file) entitled “Epistle to Thesis Writers.” > > Allport offers guidance on that question as well Very useful post **chuckhung**. I appreciate the reference to Allport. How in the world did you find it ? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/56 "2005-03-09T23:41:14Z")
_Ylem_ - meaning primordial stuff out which life or whatever arose. I’ve only seen it in print. I don’t even know how to pronounce it, whatever the pronunciation might be, it can’t be good. ---
**Author:** ![Leroy\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Leroy\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leroy_Brown)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/57 "2005-03-10T00:16:12Z")
**"Slit"** To me the word sounds just like getting a severe paper cut. Gives me the willies, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/58 "2005-03-10T00:19:50Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > Very useful post **chuckhung**. I appreciate the reference to Allport. How in the world did you find it ? In this case Google was not my friend (I believe it’s more strict on what it matches to a quoted string) but Yahoo Search came through. I simply searched on the quoted phrase “which is the ugliest word” and the link I provided came out on top. P.s., There’s only one “c” in my user name. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/59 "2005-03-10T14:42:24Z")
FTR I **like** both _moist_ and _zesty_. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443/60 "2005-03-10T20:58:32Z")
**Yclept**. Okay, it’s pretty archaic. But still. Ugh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-ugliest-word-in-english/293443.md?page=4)