So, for my first post on this blog, I decided to choose to pick apart the word “Moist”. Why “moist”? Well, I know at least two different people who shudder when they hear it. It intrigues me that they do, so I decided to try to pick it apart to understand why.
When people hear certain words, certain feelings or thoughts are invoked. War. Death. Chaos. Rainbow. Butterfly. I could go on, and I eventually will, someday. In my observation, it has to do with the way the human brain creates imagery from books etc. Your imagination is closely tied in to your personality.. no two people see the world the same way. Not exactly, at least. You develop your own preferences, word choices, etc. You prefer certain colors over others, hot over cold or vice versa. The same as people prefer Pepsi or Coke. It's just something you develop over time. You most likely don't even know why.
But I decided, as a writer, to try to pinpoint what it is about certain words that people like or don't like. Why some words give you warm fuzzies, and some words make a drop of sweat drip down your spine.
Moist. Moist can be good, like succulent.. Referring to juiciness, how full of flavor something is, how soft and not dry bread can be. But other words come to mind when the first word does.. For me, moist is mostly neutral, with a slight negativity if I decide to get really picky. Moist by very definition means it has moisture, it's damp. Damp makes me think of a cellar. I guess the perfect mental image I get is an odd feeling in a basement, a cellar. The walls are made of stone, with low lighting. The walls are practically dripping, they're wet. The air is heavy, thick. It feels humid, but it's not warm.
Moist bread gets moldy very quickly, so that is another reason that perhaps people just shudder when they hear it.. No one likes the smell of mold. Well, I'm sure some people do, but you know what I mean.
Words have meaning, yes, but that meaning can and does adapt over time. Sometimes a word completely changes over the course of centuries. And some words have multitudes of meanings, depending on the words around them. On its own, though, moist has a spongey, odd feeling to it, at least to me. I'm not a huge fan of it either, however it doesn't disturb me to hear it.
When people hear certain words, certain feelings or thoughts are invoked. War. Death. Chaos. Rainbow. Butterfly. I could go on, and I eventually will, someday. In my observation, it has to do with the way the human brain creates imagery from books etc. Your imagination is closely tied in to your personality.. no two people see the world the same way. Not exactly, at least. You develop your own preferences, word choices, etc. You prefer certain colors over others, hot over cold or vice versa. The same as people prefer Pepsi or Coke. It's just something you develop over time. You most likely don't even know why.
But I decided, as a writer, to try to pinpoint what it is about certain words that people like or don't like. Why some words give you warm fuzzies, and some words make a drop of sweat drip down your spine.
Moist. Moist can be good, like succulent.. Referring to juiciness, how full of flavor something is, how soft and not dry bread can be. But other words come to mind when the first word does.. For me, moist is mostly neutral, with a slight negativity if I decide to get really picky. Moist by very definition means it has moisture, it's damp. Damp makes me think of a cellar. I guess the perfect mental image I get is an odd feeling in a basement, a cellar. The walls are made of stone, with low lighting. The walls are practically dripping, they're wet. The air is heavy, thick. It feels humid, but it's not warm.
Moist bread gets moldy very quickly, so that is another reason that perhaps people just shudder when they hear it.. No one likes the smell of mold. Well, I'm sure some people do, but you know what I mean.
Words have meaning, yes, but that meaning can and does adapt over time. Sometimes a word completely changes over the course of centuries. And some words have multitudes of meanings, depending on the words around them. On its own, though, moist has a spongey, odd feeling to it, at least to me. I'm not a huge fan of it either, however it doesn't disturb me to hear it.
