Behold the 300 Ugliest Words in the English Language! Proceed at your
own risk!
J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase
in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of
attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This
delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag
and cover their ears. Too long have these atrocious utterances gone
unrecognized, nay, shunned from society. No longer! The Illustrated
Compendium of Ugly English Words pays homage to the 300 worst words in
existence, such as:
Amazeballs (noun): The public's opinion on this word can be
perfectly encapsulated by a recent Slate article titled Who coined
amazeballs and why do they hate humanity?
Chunky (adjective): Chunky (meaning lumpy) is a word so vile, it can
make even the most pleasant image sound disgusting. Let's try. Chunky
flower. Chunky chocolate milk. Chunky Jonathan Van Ness. See?
Moist (adjective): Slightly or moderately wet; damp; the linguistic
equivalent of stepping in a lukewarm puddle in socks and feeling the
water ooze between your toes with every step thereafter.
Rural (adjective): Meaning of the countryside, rural's definition is
not actually gross. Its foulness stems more from its pronunciation,
which forces the speaker to make a noise akin to the grunt of a zombie.
Worm (noun): Any type of burrowing, elongated invertebrate with a
soft, limbless body. (Is that a description of a real creature or a
monster from a nightmare video game? Hard to say.)
What makes these words ugly? It's the nature of the word's meaning, the
pre-existing association the reader has with the word, or the sound and
look of the word or all three! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly
English Words catalogs the ugliness from A to Z, along with each word's
pronunciation guide, definition, and origin, plus quotes demonstrating
usage. Illustrations on nearly every page of this hardcover make it both
a hilarious reference book and the ideal gift for anyone who can't stand
the sound of words like acrid, panties, gubernatorial, ointment, and
squirt.
More than anything, though, this compendium can be used as a reminder
that, despite all of our differences, deep down we all share the same
hopes, the same dreams, and the same primal hatred for the terms that
make us go, Ugh, why would you even say that?!
