Joyo Audio has unveiled the JF-20 Moist Reverb, which has the mixed blessing of being named for one of the most hated words in the English language.
According to Joyo, the new reverb pedal features a 32-bit DSP chip and offers three different modes: studio, church and plate. Control-wise, there’s a mini-toggle for modes, a true-bypass footswitch and rotary dials for mix, tone and decay.
It’s unclear if the pedal’s name was intentional or not, but it seems likely that is was simply intended to be a reference to the ‘wet/dry’ effects mix parameter.
The unpopularity of word ‘moist’ has become a bit of a meme over the last decade or so. In 2009, Ben Zimmer, language columnist for the Wall Street Journal, commented “it's hard to top the aversion felt for moist”.
Then in 2012 hatred for ‘moist’ hit the mainstream: Buzzfeed ran a post entitled Why Moist Is The Worst Word Ever, while in the same year The New Yorker asked readers which word to erase from the English language, concluding “in the end there was a run-away un-favourite: moist”. A year later, ‘moist’ was the central player in a piece that Slate published on word aversion.
Perhaps the most authoritative confirmation, however, was a poll by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016 that hoped to find the least favorite English word. Guess what the front-runner was? Yep: “moist.”
Guitar World does not have an official stance, but must admit that the thought of someone ‘adjusting the decay on their Moist’ is a little stomach-churning.
Let’s hope it doesn’t negatively impact the fortunes of Joyo’s latest stompbox. We suspect the opposite: that contrary pedal fans will snap up the Moist Reverb for the name alone. Either way, it has the makings of a cult following...
For more information, head to the Joyo site.
