Echidne on Alternate Epithets... Not That There's Anything Wrong With Humidity Either

Posted by figleaf | Tags:

Wed, 2010-06-30 18:58

Why do we call people with the names of sexual organs when we are angry with them? Sexual organs are nice! Sexual organs are, in fact, our gateway to this world, and sexual organs may be the only gateway to paradise we shall ever experience.

Instead of honoring nasty people by calling them c***s (trying to avoid the censors here), why not call them humids? Because humidity is truly awful. Awful.

She said it here.

Nicely put.

Although to be perfectly honest there are occasions where humidity can be very nice I’m… pretty sure it would be easier to try and “reclaim” humid than it would be to reclaim male or female genital-based epithets. And far less consequential if those reclamation attempts failed.

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Amen to that! I have been

Submitted by Kaija (not verified) on Thu, 2010-07-01 01:57.

Amen to that! I have been deliberately avoiding any gendered insults or putdowns, like calling someone a dick…because personally, I’m a big fan of the dick and also I don’t want to insult the many good friends (as well as my partner) who have one. I also call out people for using “pussy” or related words as slurs. My term of choice currently is “asshat”...because it’s nongendered AND because it makes me picture a butt with a cowboy hat on it, which makes me giggle every single time :)

And I also loathe the humidity with a passion…

[Oops, and I just realized I called someone else a prick in a recent post. Doh! Harder than it looks. But I’ll go correct it. Asshat is a nice one — not least because everyone has an ass. But also, yeah, it’s got that absurdist/cowboy quality as well. Thanks, Kaija. —fl]

My favorite is douchebag,

Submitted by ozymandias (not verified) on Thu, 2010-07-01 06:49.

My favorite is douchebag, because douching is an unnecessary and expensive ritual created to satisfy the beauty standard, and also causes yeast infections. This sounds like an excellent description of certain people I know.

[Ooh, interesting take on an epithet that bugs some people because it’s somewhat gendered. I don’t think I’d use it but yeah, it makes sense that to use it on someone who’s not useful, not harmless, and who shouldn’t be encouraged. :-) Thanks, O. —fl]

clicks like this I am

Submitted by sapioslut (not verified) on Thu, 2010-07-01 16:07.

clicks like this

I am guilty of this use of language. Will experiment with removal and replacement.

Cheers!

[Cool. Harder than it sounds (see my note about calling someone else a prick. But yeah, worth making the effort. It’s not like there isn’t a wealth of other words to use. :-) Thanks, SS. —fl]