In the following grid are 38 nouns that have something in common. (I use "nouns" loosely, including, for example, noun phrases and proper nouns.) Their respective enumerations are: 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 4; 5; 5; 5; 6; 7; 7; 7; 7; 7; 7; 2,6; 3,5; 5,3; 8; 3,6; 4,5; 9; 4,6; 5,5; 6,4; 7,3; 10; 10; 6,5; 6,6; 8,4; and 8-5.
Erm, I hate it to point it out to you, but there are actually 37 (not 38) valid nouns in this wordsearch... (but then you already knew that...)
The solved grid looks like this:
And the 37 nouns concealed within are (listed in the order of your enumerations):
BATH, CONE, DESK, EYES, HAIR, NICK, PAUL, SINK, SOAP, TACK, BECKY, DRAIN, ELBOW, TONGUE, CRYBABY, DENTIST, ELLIOTT, KISSING, SINGING, SWEATER, DR FIELDS, ICE CREAM, STING RAY, SAILBOAT, MRS GIBSON, LIMA BEANS, AUSTRALIA, BEST FRIEND, NIGHT LIGHT, ALBERT MOYO, HERSHEY BAR, SKATEBOARD, STRAWBERRY, MICKEY MOUSE, PHILIP PARKER, ELEVATOR DOOR, RAILROAD TRAIN
What do these have in common? They all...
...appear in the children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. (A full transcription of the words can be found here.)
Note that the leftover letters spell out a message, read from left to right and top to bottom:
WHY DID I MISCOUNT THE NUMBER OF WORDS?
To answer this:
note that in the story itself, the main character makes his own miscount:
At counting time [the teacher] said I left out sixteen. Who needs sixteen? I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
And this is exactly what you have done yourself - fully intending to include it as the 38th word in your wordsearch you've left out 'SIXTEEN'!
I suspect that now as a result you are probably having your own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day... (Which would also explain why - just like how in the story Alexander hates lima beans, kissing and his rail-road pajamas - you seem to be feeling some hate of your own towards wordsearches in the title!)
