Words That Make Me Go Ick! #MFRWauthor #BlogChallenge




This is Week #9 of the Challenge and I am late to the party so am not included in the Blog Hop list below.

Which is fine (I hope?)

Huffington Post


I actually don't care for the word WORDS (werdz) because it just sounds weird.

However,

As writers (so I'm told) we're supposed to love all (the) words.

Not me!

As linguists, we're also supposed to love (but especially accept) all (the) words.

Uh-uh, says moi!

This is one of those slippery slope occasions where someone is bound to get their knickers in a bunch and cry foul at least once, but yeah-no, I'm still game!

As a READER, words are more powerful than they are as a WRITER, and here's why.

I'll begin with the obvious and work my way down to personal pet peeves, but all BOLD words are included in my list of ICK words.

What is likely to be #1 on nearly everyone's list of hated, moist-hated words and I'm one of them is...

MOIST  


It conjures up so much disgusting, reviling, squirmy yuck and NEVER makes me think yummy cake!

Maybe that's because so many authors choose the word to describe a heroine's furry when she and the Hero are... well, sometimes just by looking at him!

And then we have the list of ubiquitous cuss words that are uttered as ubiquitously as there are McDonald's on every street corner in any part of the USA.

Strange thing about cuss words... I do tend to utter them myself and yet READING them in a novel triggers my cringe, eye-roll, ire sometimes to the point of not wanting to continue reading!

The F-bomb is mainstream, I know, but if you like to drop them in your novels, it is likely I won't become your fan.

And if you DARE insert the word between Jesus and Christ, it is even more likely I will not like you anymore... at all.

Ever again.

Jude the Obscure


Today while watching another episode of the Korean drama, Insecure Boss, I had to read this in the subtitles...



Now, the atrocious grammar issue aside, the word FOB caused me to pause the video and Google that sh*t in order to understand exactly what it was the transcriber intended to say.

Came as total surprise that FOB is a real word... first uttered in freaking 1579!!

And, the transcriber misused the word because it needs to follow OFF in order for it to work, which it still doesn't as far as I'm concerned.

"Are you trying (to) fob off (us) with that money?" ~LOL

In Romance Novels, the same issue of colloquialism becomes cringe-worthy any time I read antiquated words/phrases in a so-called Contemporary story.

Excuse me, your AGE slip is showing!

A Rose by Any Other Name


When it comes to NAMES, dumb, pretentious, and overly popular names drive me bat-sh*t crazy!

Jax, Dax, Bowen, Jason, Mackenzie, Destiny (will always quote George McFly when I see that word... You Are My Density!) Rip, Gage, and Cage.

Just today, as I wandered through more BookBub offers, I came across this name for someone's Heroine... Treflee.

The madness needs to stop, people!

BAE


A Korean surname used by roughly 1% of its population (meaning Inspiration) and nothing else.

SHIP


Sticking to the Trendy issue with words...

SHIP has become popular to mean I like them together- (short for relationship) and I think it is as ridiculous and stupid as Bae... and trendy... and psyche... and Über... and Metrosexual... and DownLow... and Synergy, and Epic... and Iconic... and Hipster... and Snowpocalypse... and Millennial... and viral... and vibe... and Artsy... and any word that is cut in half or mangled to unintelligible REALLY gets my goat.

And, if you choose to insert a lot of that crap in your novels, it isn't likely I'll become your fan.

Across the Pond


Tuppence, skive, footy, PANTSER, knickers, gobsmacked, pear-shaped, snog, tucker, pillock, knackered, grotty, jaunty, scalawag, and breeches.

No. Just... no.

Bodily Functions


As with most all Romance Novels, we readers are often forced to have to sift through a veritable minefield of distasteful, unromantic, and downright medical field terminology abuse with regard to human anatomy.

And sex.

If you insert any of the following into your story, it is likely I'll be skimming in order to avoid having to read and cringe/shudder my way through your work.

Fetid, Discharge, Crotch, Pus, Pussy, Regurgitate, intercourse, Smear, Phlegm, Piss, Scab, breath, boobs, butt, tits, ass, lips (south of the border), folds (same thing), booty, honkers, nads, scrotum, NIPPLES, buds (same thing), resuscitate, drool, copulate, pubic, fester, spit, wad, fissure, snort, tongue, joints, bloated, noggin, pap, mam, stool, cum, sinus, and eyeball.

(shudder)


True Ick Words


These truly make me cringe...

wart, gobble, hobble, wobble, rubble, pebble, rip, greasy, filthy, fleece, shorn, wend, wiggle, WAGGLE (don't get me started), smelly, tickle, remunerate, tipple, tote, toilet, flush, disjointed, prick, trickle, ooze, corpuscle, corpse, bedraggle, crusty, hoyden, promo, yodel, Cruller, dub, and the seldom-used phrase to peter out.

WORST word in the English language?


TREACLE


I cannot bring myself to say it, much less look at it or read it in novels. To me, it is the most disgusting word known to man (and, it is a British word for Molasses!)


Thank you for reading, and the list below will take you to all those who participated this week and made it before the deadline.


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