Words have flavor
Feb. 14th, 2014 07:31 pmI've recently put words to something I've known for a long time, which is that words have flavor and texture to me. I figured this out by being introduced yesterday to the neologism "frouple." A frouple is a pair of friends so close that they act like a platonic couple, so the concept behind the word is beautiful, but the word itself... it's disgusting. The texture and flavor of that word is like... like eating shit that has beans and shredded wheat in it. (I imagine.) The texture of the word is off-putting, and the flavor of the word leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
I think the reason for this is because it doesn't fit in English. The "fruh" phoneme only exists in one English word I can think of: "from." Something about "fruh" being followed by a P, and being in a two-syllable word, it's anathema to English. Maybe it might work in another language, but not English.
(And before you ask, no, the "fro" in "afro" is not "fruh." It is "froh." The fro in frolic is "frah." The fro in frost is also "frah.")
Okay, so "fruh" is also in "front" and derivations thereof, but my point about "frouple" remains valid.
I think the reason for this is because it doesn't fit in English. The "fruh" phoneme only exists in one English word I can think of: "from." Something about "fruh" being followed by a P, and being in a two-syllable word, it's anathema to English. Maybe it might work in another language, but not English.
(And before you ask, no, the "fro" in "afro" is not "fruh." It is "froh." The fro in frolic is "frah." The fro in frost is also "frah.")
Okay, so "fruh" is also in "front" and derivations thereof, but my point about "frouple" remains valid.