Bugs you too, right?
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itâs âpeanut butter sour-grape jelly timeâ
Oh man, donât ham-fist all over my etymology / entomology pun, damn it.
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Well, it could refer to cats, especially young ones, being easy to startle. An equivalent of scaredy-cat. The way slang attributes new meanings to existing words is hard to track.
But Iâm not sure itâs really important how this meaning came to the word (mainly in North America). Its sexist connotation doesnât need to be at its roots to be real.
When there was the controversy around PENâs award to Charlie Hebdo, Salman Rushdie took some flak for using the word on Twitter towards the authors who protested. âThe award will be given. PEN is holding firm. Just 6 pussies. Six Authors in Search of a bit of Character.â In doing so, he was falling in an entrapment of rhetoric, as he reused the word that was first used by the person he was answering to. Itâs unfortunate, because otherwise the tweet was fine, with an even brilliant reference to Pirandelloâs play Six Characters in Search of an Author. Later on he explained how he came to this and stated that he shouldnât have done so.
I remember that, in defense of Salman Rushdie, someone proposed a connection between âpussyâ and âpusillanimousâ. I very much doubt it holds water, but thatâs missing the point anyway.
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Hah! What did I miss? I made 3 edits right after I posted - obvious typos etc - even though given the context I thought I proofread well. Damn you Murphy!
It is all made up for by tropoâs âBugs you too, right?â comment.
Er⌠Muphry⌠Just actually read the wikipedia snippet.
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Meh, I should read more of the previous arguments before posting. I realize that my post is largely redundant, except for the anecdote about Salman Rushdie.
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Hey, Iâm pretty sure âpussyâ just refers to cats. Yeah, Iâm sure thatâs plausibleâŚ
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I think this is a case of multiple connotations which arenât necessarily carried over in every metaphor. In the UK in the past, calling someone a pussycat or nursery rhymes referring to pussies had nothing to do with genitals, and it wasnât supposed to be an insult - itâs just saying that someone was cute, small and/or timid. Using the term to refer to female genitals could be for the same reason as when people use other terms for animals, food, gendered names etc. English and other languages use mouse, beaver, rabbit, dove, cat etc., while there are others for male genitals. I just think the language has evolved to make this term more offensive, particularly in the US, which makes the idea that itâs just referring to timidity without any secondary meaning less plausible. Shouting in a crowd that a political opponent is a pussy sounds like it was intended to be more offensive than a reference to a cat would indicate. Trump is a complete cock, by which of course I mean that he is proud of himself and whatever is on top of his head looks ridiculous.
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thatâs eloquent for a turd.
That woman in the last panel is so me right now.
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Jesus christ, the Trump, Trump chanting had me fear-closing the video in a hurry. That is positively terrifying. Youâve got to stop that guy, please vote.
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Youâre not advising people on how to react, youâre just saying âthis is how you should reactâ?
I imagine youâre capable of empathy and self-reflection, maybe even good at it, so why do you insist on not employing those tools?
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I imagine youâre capable of reading and understanding, maybe even good at it, so why do you insist on not employing those tools?
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I understand that telling people âdonât over react, and donât jump to conclusionsâ is exactly âadvising people on how to react.â
I also understand that the meanings words have are not accidental or arbitrary.
Whereâs your disconnect?
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Telling people how not to react is entirely different from telling them how to react. I know you know this.
If I tell my kid they can do any sport they like, just donât over-push yourself, Iâm not telling them which sport they have to do.
Have any reaction you like, just donât blow it out of proportion.
The disconnect is yours.
Thatâs blatantly false. If you are telling people what is impermissible, you are telling them what they are allowed to do (ie, âanything other than thisâ). By way of comparison, if I say âSit on this bus however you want, but not in the front seat,â Iâm telling people where they can sit on a bus. If I say âYou can say whatever you want, but no curse words,â Iâm telling people what they can say. If I say âYou can wear what you want, but no T-shirts,â Iâm telling people what they can wear. In none of those instances can I reasonably imagine that Iâm not trying to police what people are doing.
You are trying to control what they choose.
The only way you can actually avoid policing what people are reacting is if you stop trying to tell people how they are permitted to react. Donât imagine that you have any say, or that your opinion matters. Accept that people are going to do whatever they want and you canât stop them. Trying to police how others react (or how your kid plays sports) is presuming that you can make decisions that arenât yours to make. You donât have that responsibility, or that authority.
And then think about why words mean what they mean.
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Hold on, I saw a gif that answers that.
