What are words for?

Thanks, Vesper, for another great meme...

1 What is your favorite word? Do I even have one? "Probably" is probably one I use most often. I like the wiggle room it leaves me. I like "Maybe" a lot, too, for similar reasons. I really like "Hello" because it's like social life to me -- I'd much rather say "hello" to someone than "goodbye." I like "hug" and "kiss" -- good words, good associations. "Hug" just sounds friendly -- I love to know who invented that word.

2 What is your least favorite word? Oh, man, I have a bunch. Phlegm and poop are ugly words -- I find "poo" more tolerable than "poop" -- that terminal "p" just makes for an ugly word, when paired with the leadoff "p" -- like "scoop" and "troop" don't annoy me, but "poop" does. I'd rather people say "shit" or "crap" than "poop" -- seriously! As for "plegm," well, I don't know how the Flemmish live with themselves! Hahah! I hate "Goodbye" -- goodbye feels like death to me. There are others -- as they occur to me, I'll add them. Right now, I'm blanking. Guh.

3 What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Honesty -- being able to stare hard at the truth without blinking, squinting, or looking away. I like that, and I respect it, too, because so few people ever really do it. Art is honesty to me -- even though art involves artifice, somehow that artifice creates truth, and I respect it so much.

4 What turns you off? Conventional thinking; fear of change; unwillingness to try or experiment. People being boring or whiny.

5 What is your favorite curse word? Fuck. Then Shit. Then Goddammit. Then Bitch.

6 What sound or noise do you love? Baby giggles or laughs -- it's impossible to find the world intolerable when you hear a baby laughing about something.

7 What sound or noise do you hate? Crying makes me sad, makes me feel bad for the person who's suffering, makes me cry, too; a sound I personally hate is whining -- I hate when people whine about something; I'd rather then do something about whatever's bothering them than hear them whine about it and do nothing.

8 What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Professional actor; I've taken acting classes in the 90s, always sort of thought about it, because I do it so instinctively, but have never fully pursued it. I'm seriously thinking of taking some screen acting classes, see what happens.

9 What profession would you not like to do? Anything that requires killing, maiming, or hurting people.

10 If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "Welcome."