Is there any word (acceptable) that you have an aversion to?

Meniscus

Just sounds gross.

Oh yah… and angina

I obviously have no hope for a career as a cardio surgeon.

I have an aversion to all words that are temporary creations used to hide the fact that you already depleted the value of words that already exist. Sales and marketing groups, for example, like to strip mine words until they lose all meaning and then move on to the next one. Examples:

Monetize
It’s become a buzzword to mean “make money off of” rather than it’s precise economic meaning.

Strategize
It’s not really a word. It’s a lame attempt to turn a noun, strategy, into a verb.

Leverage
Erin Kissane had a great post about this. The word you want is “exploit,” but you’re too afraid to admit what you are really doing.

Some mispronounced words annoy me. For example: Vanilla folder = Manilla folder, Old Timers Disease = Alzheimers Disease, and Valentimes Day = Valentines Day. There are more but these kill me.

@ gooch… I hear ya… surprises me how often I hear people say “supposebly”.

I agree with moist. It’s one of my least favorite words.

It bugs me when people say “comfortability.” the actual word for that is “comfort.”
also, for some reason, I really don’t like the word “items.” I don’t know why, I just don’t like that word.

I had a friend in 2nd grade whom I could terrorize and chase all around the playground by saying the word “food” and especially by brandishing the book we had in our classroom whose title was Food.
me: “Foooooooooooooood!”
him: “AAAAAaaaaah!” (flees in mad panic)

I think there are quite a few words that I dislike, but I don’t expect to be able to summon them all at once.

“tragedy” (abused to meaningless death by the news media industry)
“hero” (also abused to meaningless death by the news media industry)
“yo!”
“homework”
“your homework”

Some medical terms get me:
“hypertension” makes me hyper-tense
“urethra” (yick)
“polyps”

I also dislike many terms of philosophies I disdain (the cults of normality, the cult of the latest thing, conventional western economics, McCarthyism, intellectual property, Microsoftism, the war on terror), but mainly because I disagree with the philosophies:
“normal”
“life” (used to validate someone’s cynical resigned view of “reality” and “what it’s all about” and “the way it is” bla bla bla…)
“dated”
“dead” (meaning, something’s no longer popular with the ADD crowd anymore)
“real job”
“economic growth”
“career”
“amortize”
“subprime”
“write-downs”
“communist” (meaning non-capitalist)
“digital rights”
“intellectual property”
“innovation” (what did M$ screw up today?)
“freedom to innovate” (freedom of corporations to buy off the US government)
“technology” (applied to software)
“terrorism” (great, we’re “at war” with a meaninglessly-defined concept)
“homicide bomber” (thanks, FOX News)

They are borderline acceptable, but “tit” should refer to a small song bird and “boob” should be a fool.

Close proximity (two words, but still annoyingly redundant).

I dislike words that are longer (and therefore “intelligenter”?) versions of words that already exist:
irregardless (regardless)
incentivize (incent)
orientate (orient)

I also have a huge aversion to smoking. Although I can read about 700 wpm, if the word “cigarette” is on the page, it breaks my scansion and brings my reading speed to a standstill. Totally psychological. I just don’t like reading the word.

suicide bomber…aka terrorist

irregardless IS NOT A WORD. irrespective is a word and regardless is a word, but irregardless is not. If it were, its meaning would be “regarding”. Negatives don’t stack, they negate!

That being said, i dislike the word “cashew”.

Reciprocate (the verb, as a noun it’s okay).
Entertainment.
“War on terror” (a great short story called “WAR?” written on this, but the author’s name escapes me).
China (as in beautiful dishes).

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

irregardless

Main Entry: ir·re·gard·less
Pronunciation: \,ir-i-‘gärd-ləs\
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
Date: circa 1912
nonstandard : regardless

Usage: Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

http://www.greatsociety.org/fpm/content/view/76/2/

Secret, when used as a verb (to hide something a way). I recently learned it is pronounced the same as secrete (to emit a fluid from the body). Seriously? Gross! I’m hiding something, not emiting it from an orifice! Sheesh.

[quip above removed to keep things civil]

I hate the word “rural.” What a terrible idea to put that combination of phonemes together. Everyone sounds stupid saying it.

I’ve always hated “meal”. I don’t know why it just sounds too wholesome for some reason.

Though after seeing the name here on fluther I’ve taken a bit of an aversion to “gooch”. Though I must say it sounds exactly like what it is. No problem with the actual user, just the word.

@freerangemonkey…another longer, more intelligenter word is “utilize”. When have you ever heard someone use this word when it couldn’t be replaced by “use” with no loss of meaning.

moist is bad
splinter
cunt
preternatural (which is unfortunate, because it was used to describe me in a letter of recommendation. well, not me, but my writing, in a positive sense.)
lance
cyst
polyp
snafu
brevity
slop
nincompoop
verifiability
etc.

When people say “mischeev-ee-ous.” Mischievous, people!

@paulc you say gooch sounds exactly like what it is. What do you think a gooch is? I have never heard of an object called a gooch.

@gooch, I’m just going by the definition(s) on urban dicitionary (mildly nsfw) since beforehand I didn’t know what it was if anything at all. Though I had an inkling that it was something of that sort.

I thought The Gooch was the bully from Diff’rent Strokes.

@gooch…in agreement with paulc, I too have this association with your username

I hate pretty much any word uttered by any rapper.

member

@Poser, even “quincentenary” as mentioned by Paul Barman on “The Anarchist Bookstore”? I happen to think that’s a pretty awesome word.

can someone please tell people to stop misspelling the word definitely it’s got to be the motha’ of all faux pas here and elsewhere-almost every discussion board or comment thread…argh!!!!! It undermines any chance of being taken seriously when I read that word misspelled.

@poser and gooch-yeah that’s what I equated your namesake with as well…whatcha talkin’ ‘bout gooch? LOL

Maggot. (no doubt directly correlated with having to deal with the aforementioned, but still…)

visitation instead of visit
impact as a verb instead of to effect
true facts = tautology
awesome as an umbrella adjective to cover everything except that which generates awe.
cool
dude
meme
anxious when you mean eager.
Hopefully to replace I, you, he,she, they hope. It is an adjective that means “full of hope” rather than an interjection.
Nouns now used as verbs: To Journal; to suicide etc.
@mangus: secret (accent on first syllable is a noun; secrete is the verb (accent on “crete.” It means both “to hide” and “to ooze.”
@sndfreQ: Thank you for commenting on “definitely.”
And the floating apostrophe. Some people add it as a random graphic design rather than punctuation.

Someday” when heard as a child.

Come on” when used by a person, in a derogatory way, to avoid discussing their view’s for or against a person, policy, or position they just brought up or put down.

Be realistic” often used by my mother when discussing my goals. Like the time when I found a door sticker, “MANAGER”, in a stationary store. Which I bought as a way to keep myself motivated towards my goal of becoming a manager of a gas station convenience store. It was very disturbing to think my mother did not believe that I could achieve that simple step from cashier to manager.

Hate the word hate
never like never
and “NO” ranks up there too. Although it’s the most multilingual word I know.

i like “moist” and use it whenever i can!
i hate any version of “yum” (yummy, yumyum, etc). also bad are worm, polyps, urethra, maggot, and yo.

@ezraglenn and anyone else that feels similarly about “cunt” I recommend the book “Cunt” by Inga Muscio. Really great treatise on many things related to the idea that “cunt” can be changed just like “queer” was reclaimed as a positive term.

I forgot quagmire.

I love the word quagmire!

@Mangus I did not read that book, but I did see Atonement [and am planning on reading the book] so for now Cunt is on the bad list. Clearly it ruins everything.

@ezra: I used to love quagmire before it became an automatic appendage/synonm to “the war in Iraq.”

@sndfreq:And speaking of misspelling “definitely,” someone, on another question, just wrote “defiantly” when he meant to type “definately.” Or maybe he WAS being defiant.
There are an infinite number of ways in which to torture the language, aren’t there?

I hate the word “so,” when used as a question, always in an accusing manner.

“So?”

@Poser; if you add nu, as in So, nu?, is that less annoying?

@gailcalled—Not sure I follow…

Maybe if you add La after. Or Fa before.

@gailcalled: :)

@Poser, So, nu? You didn’t have a grandmother who spoke Yiddish? One of many sources:

“NU: Yiddish. Derived from the Russian word meaning “well.” An astoundingly versatile word, nu can be used in a variety of ways depending on context, inflection and intent. Do you agree; what’s happening; what’s your hurry, are just a few of its many usages. Examples: Nu? (How are things?) I saw you at that fancy French restaurant with Clara. Nu? (What’s up with that?)”

Fa, Sol, La, Ti etc.

Oh, ahem, but also: “bowel movement”.
(I had a friend in 3rd grade who told me his mom was in the amazing habit of addressing him by his formal first name and asking him daily, “have you had your bowel movement today?” Still sounds nightmarish to me. ;-) )

@gailcalled, I’ve never had the good fortune of knowing any Yiddish speakers, or any that spoke it around me. My grandmother grew up in the farmlands of Kansas, so I learned how to gather eggs and tend her garden, but no Yiddish.

Maybe I’ll start using the word, nu?

Poser: Gants gut My grandmother farmed and gardened in the farmlands of the Bronx, but I have the same nice memories. My sister, down the road, has chickens and honey bees. What WAS the original question? Nu?

synch

the phrase “touch-base”

“oriental”, when used to describe a person, like myself.
makes me feel like a rug.

jackfright, I’ve heard that oriental should be used in reference to furnishings and food, and asian for people and culture. That what you mean?

@robmandu, lol yeah, pretty much. it’s not something i think most asians would get offended about, but it’s pretty cringe worthy.