“Panties. Just Say Underwear”: 31 Words People Hate But Can’t Explain Why

Many of those who spend at least a part of their time online know that the internet hates the word “moist.” Funnily enough, it doesn’t appear on our list, but we have many others that people despise. 

But why do people hate “moist” so much? Scientists say it’s because of the word’s associations with bodily functions and parts. Some people argue they don’t like its phonics, but then they don’t have the same reaction to the words that sound kind of similar, like “foist” or “rejoiced.” Plus, when “moist” is paired with food words, people aren’t as disgusted by it. 

Some Redditors say that the hate for this word is either a cultural or internet joke, which has been referenced in TV shows like “How I Met Your Mother” or “Dead Like Me.” People aren’t as bothered by the word as they claim to be for attention or the joke’s sake. After all, the word itself is normal; it doesn’t even have a negative connotation, just unpleasant associations. 

Interestingly, the phenomenon of people’s hatred towards certain words has a name – word aversion. In some sources, it is also called logomisia. Basically, it’s when people feel distaste for the sound or sight of a word because it feels redundant, overused, or simply unpleasant to them. 

A professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago, Jason Riggle says that logomisia is similar to phobias – people with word aversion are disgusted by certain words instead of being simply annoyed by them, basically having a visceral reaction. 

Apparently, words like the mentioned “moist,” “vomit,” “mucus” and “phlegm,” to mention a few, gross quite a lot of people out. Again, most of the time this is because they have associations with something gross, like bodily fluids.

Here, people on Reddit were discussing how the word “phlegm” might be even grosser than the infamous “moist,” because the latter at least has some positive connotations, while the former doesn’t. 

That’s why people working in journalism and especially marketing have to be wary that some people simply can’t stand certain words and it influences their behavior as consumers. For instance, they might be inclined to not purchase a product if its description, packaging, or marketing includes a word they feel averse to. 

For a second, let’s come back to the notorious “moist.” Research has found that if this word is featured on hygiene products, consumers are less likely to buy them because it repels them. At the same time, if the same word was on food packages, people wouldn’t be as repulsed by it, because in this context the word has a non-repulsive meaning.  

Again, it proves that while sometimes word aversion is real, in other cases it is more context-based. 

Still, it’s normal for people to have words they dislike, even if it’s seemingly for no proper reason. This list is full of examples of them, from kind of weird ones to completely understandable ones.

Knowing that a lot of aversion to words comes from context, it’s quite likely that these people heard/saw these words being used in an unpleasant context and it drove them to hatred, which is absolutely normal. After all, without it, this entertaining list wouldn’t have been possible, so at least some goodness was put into the world with them, right? 

Do you have a word you hate seemingly for no reason? Share with us in the comments!