Wordplay

A thread on another website asks for examples of "words that sound dirty, but aren't" :-) Some of the readers' offerings here:

rectify
fluctuate
buttress
origami
cockpit
succumb
ashram
titillation
bifurcate
spunky
concoction
stamen
titmouse
masticate
succulent
kumquat
gherkin

This is more than just a humorous exercise, as it indicates how strongly certain sound combinations can carry connotations or senses in brain processing quite apart from their literal meanings (and in turn says something about semantic organization of the brain). In some ways this is almost the opposite of "onomatopoeia" where words actually do sound, to some degree, like the meanings to which they refer:

crunch, buzz, murmur, clang, purr, whisper, splash, hiss