雙語閱讀：為何我們討厭潮濕這個詞

　　其實外國人也很討厭“潮濕(moist)”這個詞呢，討厭潮濕的心情中外皆是，但是為什么我們都這么討厭“潮濕”呢?一起來一探究竟吧!

　　A lot of people don’t like the word “moist.” Several Facebook groups are dedicated to it, one with over 3,000 likes, New Yorker readers overwhelmingly selected it as the word to eliminate from the dictionary, and Jimmy Fallon sarcastically thanked it for being the worst word in the English language. When you ask people why this might be, there is no shortage of armchair theory: that there’s something about the sounds involved, that it puts your face in a position similar to the facial expression of disgust, or that it reminds people of mold or sex.

　　Psychologist Paul Thibodeau and his colleagues ran a recent study to sort it out. They gave participants a set of words and asked them to rate how, whether, and to what degree, each word made them uncomfortable.

　　很多人不喜歡“潮濕”這個詞。臉書的幾個團隊對這個詞做了專門研究，3000多人喜歡這個詞，《紐約客》的絕大多數(shù)讀者選擇把它從字典中移除，吉米·法倫諷刺這個詞是英語中最爛的詞。當你問及人們原因時，不乏一堆“紙上談兵”式的理由：這個詞的發(fā)音就讓你聽起來一臉嫌棄，這個詞還讓人們聯(lián)想到霉菌或性。

　　心理學家保羅·錫伯杜和他的同事針對這個詞做了一項最新研究。他們給參與者列出一組單詞，并要求他們對這組單詞進行評估：每個詞是否讓他們感到不舒服了，不舒服到何種程度。

　　Twenty-one percent of the people in the study had an aversion to the unloved word. It turns out that the sounds don’t have much to do with that effect. Similar-sounding words, such as “foist,” did not generate the same reaction.

　　研究中21%的人對這個遭人嫌棄詞有厭惡感。事實證明這個詞的發(fā)音和厭惡感沒什么太大關聯(lián)。發(fā)音類似的詞，像“蒙騙(foist)”這個詞并沒有產(chǎn)生同樣的反應。

　　So what about the meaning? Well, people found “moist” most aversive when it follows an unrelated, pleasant word, such as “paradise.” There seems to be a contrast effect going on here.“Moist” also didn’t seem so unpleasant when it followed words related to food, such as “cake.”

　　那么意思方面呢?嗯，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)“潮濕”這個詞與一個毫不相干的、有討喜的褒義詞搭配出現(xiàn)時最討厭，比如“天堂”。這里似乎產(chǎn)生了對比效果。“潮濕”這個詞搭配食物事也很糟，像“蛋糕(cake)”。

　　Further analysis showed that “moist”-averse people also tend to dislike related words, such as “damp” and “wet,” showing further support for the idea that it’s the meaning, not the sound. “Moist”-averse people also tended to have more general disgust reactions to bodily functions, suggesting that it’s the connotations with bodily functions and sex that sets people off.

　　經(jīng)進一步的分析表明大家對“潮濕”這類相關詞匯像“潮濕的(damp)”和“濕(wet)”這些詞也有反感傾向，進一步大家反感是這個“含義”而不是發(fā)音。厭煩“濕潤”這個詞的人一般也比較討厭身體機能的這一反應，暗示這個詞把身體機能和性聯(lián)系起來了。