Why do people dislike moist more than moose, but not as much as merts?

We all know people who hate the word “moist”. But why are they fine with synonyms such as “damp” or “wet”? What’s going on in their brains, and what does this have to do with synesthesia, autism, shapes, slacks, and sound probabilities? Join this week’s episode as Eagleman leads us into the new and wild world of word aversion.

Episode Audio

Episode Video

More Information:
Liberman M (2012) Literary moist aversion. Language Log.

Bosley HG, Eagleman DM (2021). Word Aversion: Why people dislike moist more than moose, but not as much as merts. PsyArXiv. July 23.

Thibodeau PH (2016). A moist crevice for word aversion: In semantics not sounds. PloS one, 11(4), e0153686.

Triska Z. (2013). The Worst Word Ever. The Huffington Post. 18 Sept. 2012. Web.

O’Brien D. (2010). 6 Words That Need to Be Banned from the English Language. Cracked.com. Blog Column.

Schuessler J. (2012). New Yorker Word Nerds Drop “Slacks” in Online Contest. ArtsBeat: The Culture at Large. New York Times Website.

Zwicky A. (2011). An inventory of postings on peeving, etc. LanguageLog.

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