Words I Cannot Use

A little more of my crazy for you. So you can get a little peek into my brain.
It's a wild ride in there.

The following are words with which I cannot bring myself to have any sort of voluntary contact.
Doesn't mean I have no contact with them. Turns out it's unavoidable at times.
But this does explain why I sometimes stop watching really, really great tv shows smack in the middle of season 3 (out of 6), or why I abandon books I have heard are great, and occasionally why I seemingly rudely leave conversations in social situations.

So here we go.

1. Journey: I literally (and I am using that word correctly here) cannot stand the word "journey". Many blog posts ago I alluded to the fact that I do not understand why anyone would refer to their medical crisis as a "cancer journey". It's not like it's a vacation. Or a trip. You're not fulfilling your lifelong dream to go somewhere. But it is quite the popular phrase among patients in the oncology world. Now, several years into this whole situation, I cannot bring myself to even use the word journey as a reference to an actual adventure. I just don't use the word. At all. Ever. Too much baggage associated with it (for me). If you happen to ask me where I am journeying next, I will respond by pointedly NOT including that word in my response. I will happily tell you where I am going. I will gleefully tell you about my upcoming voyage. I have lots of ideas of where I would like to wander.
I realize that me avoiding a specific word seems silly. But that particular word is this really unappealing mustard yellow color, and it makes otherwise bright and vibrant sentences dull and flat. So it is banished from my vocabulary.
It is not banished from yours. Please feel free. I would never presume to ask or tell anyone else what words they can or should not use around me. Just don't take it personally when you start to tell me about your amazing journey and I cringe. It's not you. It's me.

2. You made it to word number two? This doesn't seem just insane to you? You are dedicated, reader. Also, you are probably related to me, so I appreciate the loyalty.
My second carefully avoided word is the big C word itself. (NOTE: next time you see Dave, please ask him to regale you with the story of how he taught 180 eighth graders "the C word"--entirely different C word, obviously. Great story.)
Anywho. (anyhoo? how is that spelled?)
So anyway.
The C word.
Don't want to talk about it. Don't want to read about it. Don't want to hear about it.
I don't know what else I can say regarding this. I have a visceral aversion to contact with this word.
I think you can understand why. I think ANYONE can understand why. And yet.
You'd be surprised how many people tell me stories. How many people throw it into casual conversation. Regularly. Like, all the time.
Just throwing this out there: don't invite that word into conversation with anyone intimately involved on the patient-end of the world of oncology. Ever. Or at least, ever with me.

3. Those who shall not be named: There are more words. But they are the ones that, for me, evoke such instinctual aversion that I don't even want to write them down. They are my Voldemort. I will go out of my way not to avoid contact of any sort.

4. Moist
Just kidding. But as a caveat, I only use this word when talking about cakes.

So that's a glimpse into the gyri and sulci of my cerebral cortex.
It's a rollercoaster in there.
I fully realize that none of this may make sense to anyone but me.
Thanks for trying to ride.