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Picture of Kalleh
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On NPR today they were talking about the funniest-sounding words that are also clean. Unfortunately, I can't find the show at all when I search their site.

One suggestion was "spleen," and they give lots of examples. It does nothing for me because I only think of the organ.

Then they mentioned that "K" has a funny sound so that "kumquat" and "spork" are funny sounding words. They loved "spork" because it not only sounds funny, but has a funny meaning.

What are some of yours?
 
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<Proofreader>
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discombobulated
fern
insouciant
Palin
 
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<Asa Lovejoy>
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Spackle
Borborygmus
Sphincter
 
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Links: one and two. The jury is out and I sure the criteria differ depending on the language and its phonology. The "words with a k-sound are funny" meme is mentioned in The Sunshine Boys and by George Carlin in a routine. This is another one of those "I just don't get it" memes. Wait a minute, come to think of it, epicaricacy is pretty funny. I mean it's not even a word, really.

[Addendum: Once, in Salzburg, I found myself sitting around a kitchen table late one evening with a bunch of linguistics students. Somehow, the topic shifted to phonesthemes (link) and phonosemantics (link). The only part I remember (this was nearly 30 years ago) is that a high front vowel like /i/ had somewhat negative connotations, while a high back vowel like /u/ had more positive ones. For example, eek vs oomph. Come to think of it, the Monty Python Woody-and-Tinny-Words sketch that oftentimes comes up in these discussions holds to that. At least tinny and woody themselves do. We didn't get very far, and soon turned to another topic. From the first link above:
quote:
Dave Barry's 1991 book Dave Barry Talks Back reprints a column on linguistic humor. He contrasts the phrases "Richard Nixon wearing a necktie" with "Richard Nixon wearing a neck weasel", and "Scientists have discovered a 23rd moon orbiting Jupiter" with "Scientists have discovered a giant weasel orbiting Jupiter." He concludes that weasel is a very funny word - "You can improve the humor value of almost any situation by injecting a weasel into it."

In a similar vein, an old Internet phenomenon involved taking lines from the Star Wars movies and replacing one word from the line with the word "pants", with comedic effect. This suggests that "pants" may be an inherently funny word.
]

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Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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<Asa Lovejoy>
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From Z's second link: "...the Finnish mythology and folklore always presents the owl as a stupid animal." This is in direct contrast to our perceptions.

IMO, boob(s), as seen in the first link, isn't as funny as the French "bloblos," which seems to suggest something both orally and visually amusing.

As for German/Yiddish, I swear "schtup" is onomatopoeic - but who listens? Roll Eyes

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folklore always presents the owl as a stupid animal." This is in direct contrast to our perceptions

My guess is that this perception goes back to Pliny.
 
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The owl was sacred to the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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<Asa Lovejoy>
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quote:

My guess is that this perception goes back to Pliny.

Didn't Pliny debunk the bad omen idea rather than the intelligence of owls? And I assume you mean the elder Pliny?
 
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Pliny

Pliny (the Elder) seems to say that the owl is a bird of omen fortelling evil (link).
quote:
The horned owl [bubo] is especially funereal, and is greatly abhorred in all auspices of a public nature: it inhabits deserted places, and not only desolate spots, but those of a frightful and inaccessible nature: the monster of the night, its voice is heard, not with any tuneful note, but emitting a sort of shriek. Hence it is that it is looked upon as a direful omen to see it in a city, or even so much as in the day-time. I know, however, for a fact, that it is not portentous of evil when it settles on the top of a private house. It cannot fly whither it wishes in a straight line, but is always carried along by a sidelong movement. A horned owl entered the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in the consulship of Sextus Palpelius Hister and L. Pedanius; in consequence of which, Rome was purified on the nones of March [seventh of March] in that year.
The earliest association of owls with wisdom is the Greek goddess Athene Pronoia being represented with an owl on Attic coins.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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I guessed wrong. It seems to be a Greek thing. Here's Aesop:
quote:

The Owl and the Birds

AN OWL, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird- lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured. The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them. And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds. Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.
-- Translated by George Fyler Townsend
 
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<Asa Lovejoy>
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quote:
Originally posted by zmježd:
A horned owl entered the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in the consulship of Sextus Palpelius Hister and L. Pedanius; in consequence of which, Rome was purified on the nones of March [seventh of March] in that year.
Doesn't that passage indicate the owl's prophetic capacity, not its doomsaying? Am I misunderstanding the word, "purified" in the above passage?
 
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<Proofreader>
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I think the semi indicates that because of the bird entering the chamber, the chamber had to be purified (exorcised?) of the bad omen inherent in the bird's entry.
 
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Picture of Kalleh
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The linguists of the world will probably hate me for this, but I find the words fricitive and affricate funny sounding. I do agree with one of z's links that says "the concept of inherent humor appears to be heavily dependent on culture" and then it mentions Yiddish and German words as a staple of humor in American English. Yes they are! I love the sounds of lots of words in those languages.
 
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The linguists of the world will probably hate me for this, but I find the words fricitive and affricate funny sounding.

Oh, I doubt that. What does it matter what any of us find words funny or unfunny sounding? They may become cross with you if you try to read something more metaphysical into your taste in word phontactics.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
 
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<Asa Lovejoy>
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I find bilabial fricatives to be verrrrry sexy-sounding. Big Grin Can't you picture a pair of moist, pouty lips pronouncing, "PUMP, PUMP, PUMP?"
 
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