Space Invaders

I had the double whammy today – P.A.P smear and dental examination. Don’t worry, I will not be writing about my experiences. Thank Goodness!

I am intrigued by words such as these, or words associated with them and the way they sound. They are real ‘space invader’ words to my ears.

Drill. Smear. Moist. Saliva. Scrotum. Mucous. The list goes on...

Smear sounds dirty to me, like greasy hands down a pane of glass and drill sounds barbaric (not far from the truth where dentists are concerned.) Cervical test sounds much more kinder and sterile and teeth implement far less invasive. Wet also beats moist hands down, as does spit instead of saliva and any word is better than scrotum. Congestion has no ‘u’rgh in it. 

Is it the phonetics or is it all in the mind? Is there a word that makes you cringe? And I don’t just mean cross your legs ‘at the thought of it’ cringe.

The activities I took part in are not the most pleasant but like housework they have to be done. But do they have to sound so unwelcoming?

On the other hand there are some words that simply make you laugh. My daughter (who has just got over Gastro) was telling my hub about her friend also being sick and said: “Poor Alkira has a high beaver too.”

I believe beaver is a non invasive, bordering on cute sounding word. I do hope Alkira’s beaver (oops fever) subsides.