A caller named Holly confesses that there’s a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she’s not alone in her aversion to the word—Holly, cover your eyes—moist. Grant and Martha discuss the psychological aversion some people have to certain common terms. Is there a word that makes you shudder in disgust? Unload in our discussion forum. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...