Panties, Moist, And Supposably: Atlantic’s Dictionary Of Most Hated Words

Everyone has that word that annoys the ever-loving crap out of them. Heck, maybe you have a few. One online publication collected the most hated words and condensed them into a user-friendly resource. I give you the Dictionary of Despicable Words.

“First, let it be said that words are not terrible,” writes Jen Doll of The Atlantic Wire. “Often, word-hate is not the fault of the word itself; it’s due to the meanings humans have attributed to the poor word. It’s us, not them,” she reasons. The Inquisitr is inclined to agree. Often, it’s the way a word is said that makes it so unpalatable. Even more sinister still, some words are only hated due to the frequency of their use by a person already far bereft of our personal favor. Atlantic combed their readers favorite most hated words from solicited emails, reports Newser. Here are some of the highlights:

One reader took issue with the word “arguably,” saying, “What, actually, does arguably mean? Indisputable? Able to be argued about? It is a non-word. Another filler, actually.” Another singled-out the conversational qualifier “honestly,” opining, “On the rare occasions when [one] doesn’t say honestly, is [one] actually being dishonest?” Another popular most hated word was “irregardless,” which in case you don’t know, is NOT a word (so stop using it now). “Supposably” is another non-word, and interestingly the word “webinar” joined other digital age terms on the hated list.

Most hated word? Moist. You know why.

And though Doll argued that “literally” is literally the worst word in the world, she noted that this particularly dubious honor actually belongs… to “actually.”

On a note of personal surprise, I was a bit taken-aback by the presence of “best” as a sign-off for e-mails (which I use) on the most hated list. “1. It’s false. That really isn’t your best…the best you can do is an email? 2. It’s like the faux stand-in for sincerely, like you think you’re giving me a better word than what your third grade teacher taught you, but really, all you’ve given me is best. 3. You would never say best in person,” said one reader.

I guess I’ll stop using it then.

Best,

Me.