a.1) Project Statement

Appendix 1

Projected Cause of Displeasure

Concept
What the word refers to, or stands in place of; person, place, thing, abstract idea.

(ex. war)

Articulation
The implied delivery and intended effect of the word’s use, includes:
derogatory tone, erasure of original meaning, (mis)understanding of original meaning, repurposing of original meaning, (mis)spelling.

(ex. Whatever)

Sub Category: Ill-Purposed
When the content of an articulation is meant to cause displeasure/discomfort or suppression of the audience’s subjectivity

(ex. Racial Slurs).

Body
Words that refer directly to body parts or functions, or invoke bodily associations.

Sound / Pronounciation
When the sound or act of speaking a word creates discomfort for the person involved.
Also: when the sound/speech of the word magnifies an understanding of what the word refers to.

(ex. Moist)

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I Don’t Like The Word:

What word do you like least?
Once you have answered that, the next question is necessarily: What word do you like best?
And finally: Why?

The last question is where you will begin to find the origins of language’s power. How do the words you use govern your thoughts, your behaviour and experience of the world?
What words prevent you from feeling free to act, to think, to create, to love? How is your movement from street to building, from city to city, from country to country shaped by acts of legislation?

Legislation: a collection of words outlining intangible concepts with imaginary people in mind; creating real conditions that affect real bodies.
Think: passports, immigration laws, race and class-based restrictions on who can go where.

Why ask the negative question first?
Think of Socrates, “The Gadfly”. The importance of choosing the ‘right’ word to name something spans all areas of inquiry, from science, to the social, to the spiritual. Repeatedly asking what something ‘is not’ eliminates all possibilities until the most fitting answer remains. Also, it pits the collection of words against an omnipresent market in which any preference can be used to sell you something, used to manipulate your interests. Commerce and legislation go hand in hand. Preference is commodity.

Any one word is tied to many images, meanings and associations. The chart provided is an attempt to identify which aspect of a word could potentially have bothered the writer enough to dislike it.
Different uses of a word can be disliked individually (for their own unique properties) and simultaneously.
A word can belong in more than one category. Placement of words in categories and the subsequent emphasis is entirely subjective, while the categories themselves seem to be suggested by general consensus (less subjective).

What meaning can be gathered from something so subjective, so inconclusive?
The categories are ultimately a tool for creating a series of more complex questions.
Rather than the Statisticians’ method of asking one question and searching for responses that provide the projected answer, this is a method of inquiry that starts with the response and looks to provoke questions in people who encounter the project.

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