Laving
Possibly, this is because the word has more to do with bathing than licking. Bathing breasts is a fairly erotic activity -- all that slick soap and hot water and big hands and...ahem. I digress -- but licking them enough so as to actually bathe them? Lots of ick.
I have a theory about this word and its prolific presence in romance novels. Whichever author first misused the word had such a large audience of other authors that they picked it up and kept right on misusing it.
Moral of this story? Do your own research! And get a dictionary. Please.
6 Comments:
I couldn't agree more, babe...
By 
Anna Louise Lucia, at
3:55 AM
You are so totally right. Laving is icky. I detest it. Any time I read it, I get pulled out of the story and have to spend five minutes thinking about icky that word is.
By Kristen Painter, at
5:57 PM
Other words that come from the root word -- lavare
Lavatory, lavabo (where the priest washes his hands during mass)
Its secondary meaning is to pour or to flow along or against. How can a tongue pour? Would you really write about a tongue flowing against a nipple?
We are talking water here.
It is unpleasant connotations and one of my pet hates.
By Michelle Styles, at
7:35 AM
Hehehe! Reminds me of a cat laving itself.
Agreed - it's kind of like the spit-wash you saw the grubby kids in the playgrounds getting from their mums and praying you'd never be embarrassed like that...
BTW... you've been tagged... (vbeg)
By 
, at
12:27 PM
Quite true. Not the only word to get passed from writer to writer, bypassing the dictionary entirely.
By , at
4:33 AM