# Words that just sound funny. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572 "2012-02-12T01:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/41 "2012-02-13T18:07:56Z")
Plectrum Parallelepiped (or hyperparallelepiped, but that’s a bit niche) ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/42 "2012-02-13T18:10:24Z")
I am always thought ‘weird’ sounded… uh… weird. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/43 "2012-02-13T18:58:01Z")
George Carlin suggested guacamole (“It sounds like something you tell when you’re on fire - GUACAMOLE!!!”) and succotash (“What did you call me you son of a-” “Hey be cool man, it’s lima beans on corn”). Hootenanny Smock (see “Calvin and Hobbes” - don’t knock my smock or I’ll clean your clock) Titicaca Herpetology Shitzu In Spanish there’s a conjugated form of the verb trabajar (to work), “trabajaba” - I’d always think of the old gum commercial only it came out as “Trabajaba Bubblegum”. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/44 "2012-02-13T19:42:03Z")
Mukluk ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/45 "2012-02-14T16:54:59Z")
Kazoo Periwinkle Waffle ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/46 "2012-02-14T16:59:22Z")
Actually, “bumbershoot” sounds pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/47 "2012-02-14T17:46:44Z")
Last night there was a Hootenanny at the Waffle House. Bumbershoot played a periwinkle kazoo while wearing mukluks and a smock. There was a kerfuffle when some weasel let his shitzu attack a weiner dog. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/48 "2012-02-14T22:50:45Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Weiner. > > Weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner weiner Perambulate Nictatating Gyrate Pusillanimous Rhombus -I always picture some out of proportion school bus leaning down the highway… As an aside; wiener,wiener, wiener… Heeheehee Oh, and Chatauqua; that one is just odd… ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/49 "2012-02-15T00:05:46Z")
Shampoo Purple ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/50 "2012-02-15T00:38:40Z")
A major street in downtown Toronto is “Spadina Avenue.” Pronounced spah-DYNE-ah. It sounds like part of a woman’s genitals, even though it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/51 "2012-02-15T01:45:43Z")
Retrograde I don’t know why, just seems strange. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/52 "2012-02-15T08:16:46Z")
‘grocer’–and by extention, ‘grocery’, ‘groceries’ and, especially, ‘green grocer’. ‘flatter’–and ‘flattery’. ‘girlie’–but just the noun; ‘girly’ just sounds…well…girly. Anything rarely used or obsolete like: forsooth bamboozle poltroon, quadroon, octaroon partake sup egads drat flounce, galavant, traipse, lollygag\*, etc. Oh, and ‘halleluyah’ and ‘knickerbocker’ (and ‘knickers’ itself). - I want to put up signs around my property that say, “No Traipsing. Galavanters Will Be Lollogagged.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/53 "2012-02-15T20:40:22Z")
Do only English words count? Decades ago, when I was taking French in high school, my class was listening to a bunch of new vocabulary words on a tape recorder. One of the words we had to learn was the French word for “armchair.” The word was “Fauteuil.” It was pronounced sort of like “foh TUHYYYYEE” Or maybe it was just the way the guy on the recording made it sound. Regardless, it sounded simultaneously silly AND obscene. So much so that, for the next two years, any time a guy wanted to tell a classmate to go fuck himself, he’d say “Fauteuil!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/54 "2012-02-15T22:14:00Z")
Skiing The double-i sound just bothers me… ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/55 "2012-02-15T23:16:11Z")
> [@Rich\_Mann](#): > > poltroon, quadroon, octaroon FTR, these words aren’t all related, despite the admitted hilarity of all ending in -oon. Poltroon is an old timey word that meant “coward.” Quadroon and Octaroon refer to the amount of black ancestry in a person of mixed race. A quadroon has 1/4 black ancestry, an octaroon 1/8. In 21st century USA, I expect poltroon wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but quadroon and octaroon (depending on context) might well get one branded a bigot. ---
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/56 "2012-02-15T23:19:03Z")
Confabulate Immolation Moritorium ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/57 "2012-02-16T09:48:55Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Do only English words count? > > Decades ago, when I was taking French in high school, my class was listening to a bunch of new vocabulary words on a tape recorder. One of the words we had to learn was the French word for “armchair.” > > The word was “Fauteuil.” > > It was pronounced sort of like “foh TUHYYYYEE” Or maybe it was just the way the guy on the recording made it sound. > > Regardless, it sounded simultaneously silly AND obscene. So much so that, for the next two years, any time a guy wanted to tell a classmate to go fuck himself, he’d say “Fauteuil!!!” I’ve already claimed the entire French language (see post #24 above). A similar French word (I assume), although it’s a proper name, is Faneuil. How is that supposed to be pronounced? I always wanted to pronounce it “Fanny oil”. How silly and obscene is THAT? Actually, a pronunciation that I’ve heard is something like “FANE-yull” (FANE rhyming with pane, lane, mane; yull sounding either like gull or maybe bull.) (ETA: That might be an anglicized pronunciation, as it isn’t similar to the Fauteuil pronunciation given above.) ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/58 "2012-02-16T17:15:03Z")
[quote=“Senegoid, post:57, topic:612572”] I’ve already claimed the entire French language (see post #24 above). Beware **Senegoid**! You’re stepping on dangerous ground. synagogue (no insinuation 🙂 ). Okay, I’am getting a little “goguenard” (French for mocking). sialagogue goggles googol goog goo goop ---
**Author:** ![jerseymule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jerseymule/32/3155_2.png) [@jerseymule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerseymule)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/59 "2012-02-16T18:01:49Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > goggles > googol > goog > goo > goop Google Yahoo! Bing Wiki ---
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-just-sound-funny/612572/60 "2012-02-17T02:39:06Z")
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