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Moist. Why do people have such a problem with the word? It's not even a swear word. But it may as well be.
Oberlin Professor Paul Thibodeau wanted to find out why the
word makes people so uncomfortable. The following is what him and his
researchers came up with: “On average, about 18 percent of our
participants identified as categorically averse to the word,” Thibodeau
writes. “Women, younger people, and those with more education, who
tended to score higher on measures of disgust toward bodily function and
neuroticism (a personality trait characterized by increased feelings of
anxiety, worry, anger, and guilt), were particularly likely to find the
word unpleasant.”
The study was conducted over four years and spanned 2,500
subjects. Moist was found less unpleasant than racial slurs and words
associated with violence.
Researchers presented these three following possible theories for why people hate the word:
1. Sound: Saying “moist” uses the same facial muscles that contract when we experience something disgusting.
2. Connotation: Moist conjures both positive and negative
meanings. While we all love moist chocolate cake, the word can also
trigger images of vomit, phlegm, or the grosser parts of sex.
3. Social transmission: If one person dislikes the word, they convince someone else that they don’t like the word either.
Interesting. Very interesting. Doesn't stop us from hating it tho, does it?
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