Words That Sound Dirty

I went outside today and looked a my garden. Its really pretty and what's cool is that a lot of the flowers that got planted last year are blooming this year. This is unusual in my experience, but since we've added water to the mix out there, things actually seem to be thriving! One of the prettiest blooms in the garden is the lobelia, a gorgeous dark purple flower with an obscene sounding name. This got me thinking about words that sound bad but aren't.

Which brought to my mind the situation some years ago where a low-level government employee used the word "niggardly" and was nearly fired for it. That word means extremely stingy and has no racial overtone (never did - its of Scandinavian origin and predates the "n word" by several hundred years) but it sounds evil. The guy who used it was not guilty of anything but stupidly using a word that is not common and sounds really bad.

My best friend in college and I used to crack up over the word "uvula". Its that hangy thing in the back of your throat, but it sounds like something located much lower on the body. "Hi, how's your uvula?" would get us laughing harder than Betty White on Saturday Night Live. We were weird. We also had an imaginary friend named Eunice. Sometimes her uvula would act up and we'd laugh so hard it would hurt. Makes me understand why people never came to our parties.

Some words that seem bad come from church. The first time I heard the word "genuflect" I was shocked. Shocked! They do that in church?! Then I found out it was a sign of respect and reverence so naturally its done in church. OK, well what about the word "rectory"? Do they genuflect in there? Well, yes, they might since its where the priest lives. But those words sound so...well, dirty.

These questionable sounding words have filtered into all areas of my life. Specifically, my garage. My hub brews beer out there and when the brew is fermenting, it flockulates. Right there in my garage! Well,yes, since flockulation is the process of yeast cells clustering together and settling out of the raw beer. Its actually a good thing and it has nothing to do with procreation. But it sounds like a variation of the f-bomb.

I continued on my walk and decided to call my old roomie this weekend. We need to catch up. Her husband had cancer surgery and I need to see how he's doing. Plus, I need to check up on her uvula. Also, its been months since we chatted about Eunice!