Perhaps the most effective use of the word ever is in Milton’s Lycidas:
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th’abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.
shiver
Kumquat will always be a good word for me because of its starring role in Tony Harrison’s “A Kumquat for John Keats,” which is just a terrific poem. (There’s some of it here – not all of it, though, as it’s still under copyright.)
Not sure if I could pick just one least favorite word. Clot is pretty unpleasant. As is maim. And feculent.
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Originally Posted by mstay
Are we talking about the way the word looks, sounds, or what it refers to?
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It seems that many words posted are felt ugly because of what they refer to, more than what they sound or look like.
I’m still puzzled: Why should “which” be ugly (the OP) and not “winch”, “cinch” or “fetch” ?
(chukhung: the next time I’ll spell it right. It’s done)
There’s a Radiohead song titled “Myxomatosis” about a cat who eats an infected rabbit and describes his new symptoms to his friends. It’s an unpleasant word in both sound and subject. Radiohead goes and makes a really catchy song using a five syllable word with an x in it (triple word score!) Now those are songwriters for ya!
I usually sing a few lines to myself at work:
“I got myxomatosis, I got mixomatosis”
Actually I just hum it to avoid strange looks. Great song, ugly word.
For me: slacks (when referring to men’s pants) conjures up diarrhea-brown polyester double-knit highwaisted bellbottoms with lingering whiff of sweat and farts, perhaps conflated with ‘slack-jawed’. Oddly, ‘slacks’ in reference to tailored women’s trousers doesn’t bother me.
For my wife:** panties**- She imagines an obese, lispy, greasy asthmatic pedophile with damp palms and a combover in the girls’ underwear department, shuddering with illicit excitement.
Sadly, we use these words to tease each other, knowing full well that we will have to hear our own hated word in response: “Hey, babe, I folded the laundry and thoroughly enjoyed HANDLING YOUR PANTIES.” “Not as much as I loved RINSING OUT YOUR SLACKS.”
I didn’t realize any Radiohead songs were actually about anything, I like them though. Myxomotosis isn’t such a bad word, and it did get rid of those annoying rabbits in Watership Down.
