Let's talk about breasts...
Ok, I called them breasts in the title to not shock you, but one liminary note. I like to call them boobs. Men have breasts. Why not pectorals. It's dry and technically accurate but in no way does the word breast convey the beauty and fascination of these little lumps of fat which, as said in a different topic, evolved precisely as sexual signalling - aka to attract you guys. I also like how the word boob sounds, it's so round and sweet. I like its orthography too. boob. The two b's look like the two parts of a bra which have been taken aside to uncover the lovely os, don't they.
I actually also love the word pussy. Vagina is silly and inaccurate; vulva is technically correct but medical, cold and dry. You wouldn't like it cold and dry now, would you. A pussy, on the other hand, is a lovely sweet warm little furry animal (ok, our pussies are no longer that furry but that's just a fashion) which loves to be caressed, petted... We use a similar word in French, chatte, which is the female cat, but it's not a diminutive and it sounds a lot more vulgar to my ears. But maybe that's because I was exposed to the idea that it is a vulgar word since my childhood, and not because a mature cat is less endearing than a little pussy. Ok, we call it in dozens of different ways, including minette, which is the feminin of minet, an endearing word for a small cat, but this is probably less common.
I equally love the word cock. Dick, Johnson are guys, penis is anatomically correct but far from reflecting the pride, beauty and surprisingly independent life of this male body part. Calling a cock a penis is like calling a lady female. Yes, like a cow or a mare I am technically female, I don't have an Y chromosome, I have a vagina which can be inseminated, I release each month ovules which can be fecundated and I have breasts which can produce milk for the offspring. But unlike cows and mares, I try to have a nice behaviour, I read a lot so I don't look too stupid in society and yes, I spend considerable resources on dressing and making up in a way which makes me nice to took at. So being called a female is, I think, quite limiting and even a bit insulting to what I am - or like to think I am.
But I was speaking about cocks. I was born in the countryside, at a time when lots of people were still raising chicken in their backyards. My family was quite poor, we didn't have much of a backyard, but my neighbours had a small farm and had several cocks. A big, majestic, proud red and golden one, who was inseminating all lady hens, and a couple younger ones, who were either able to take the lead in a couple of years or would end their career as the main ingredient in a "coq au vin" dish. What majestic, beautiful, proud animals! I was fascinated by them but also a bit afraid - they always wanted to attack me, I don't know why, maybe because I was the youngest and smallest, maybe because I was so blond... But at a point in time, I started to play with them and actually to like that game. I knew that as long as I faced them and show no fear, I could dominate them. They would engage mock attacks but if I stood my ground they would not touch me. Sometimes they would win and I would scream and run for cover and my neighbour (who was also a remote uncle) would come to save me, but most often I would win and they would remain frustrated and a bit humiliated, I guess. Well, cocks will be cocks. The first time I touched a guy intimately I jumped in horror. I thought that was a bone sticking out of his body and something terribly wrong had happened to him. I knew from friends of course that he would get hard, but there was no internet at the time and I had never seen an erect cock and didn't expect that it would go that hard and proud. I was 16 and was planning to let that guy be my first but I got so scared of that cock that I ran away. I had sex for the first time at 18, after torturing the poor guy for months with only petting and getting used to his anatomy and with the idea of letting that fiery but fascinating "bone" inside me.
So here it is. English is my fifth language so I don't have all the cultural baggage and nuances you native speakers have, but I like the words boob, pussy and cock and I will continue to use them. It's not deprecating and I am not purposefully vulgar and unladylike, it's just because I like these words more than their medical quivalent.
Fine, this topic was supposed to be about boobs but I got lost in a discussion about vocabulary. It would actually be interesting to have a topic about the names given to our more intimate parts in different languages and traditions, but I had very important questions to ask to you guys about boobs.
Well, I guess it will be for the next time...
Ok, I called them breasts in the title to not shock you, but one liminary note. I like to call them boobs. Men have breasts. Why not pectorals. It's dry and technically accurate but in no way does the word breast convey the beauty and fascination of these little lumps of fat which, as said in a different topic, evolved precisely as sexual signalling - aka to attract you guys. I also like how the word boob sounds, it's so round and sweet. I like its orthography too. boob. The two b's look like the two parts of a bra which have been taken aside to uncover the lovely os, don't they.I actually also love the word pussy. Vagina is silly and inaccurate; vulva is technically correct but medical, cold and dry. You wouldn't like it cold and dry now, would you. A pussy, on the other hand, is a lovely sweet warm little furry animal (ok, our pussies are no longer that furry but that's just a fashion) which loves to be caressed, petted... We use a similar word in French, chatte, which is the female cat, but it's not a diminutive and it sounds a lot more vulgar to my ears. But maybe that's because I was exposed to the idea that it is a vulgar word since my childhood, and not because a mature cat is less endearing than a little pussy. Ok, we call it in dozens of different ways, including minette, which is the feminin of minet, an endearing word for a small cat, but this is probably less common.I equally love the word cock. Dick, Johnson are guys, penis is anatomically correct but far from reflecting the pride, beauty and surprisingly independent life of this male body part. Calling a cock a penis is like calling a lady female. Yes, like a cow or a mare I am technically female, I don't have an Y chromosome, I have a vagina which can be inseminated, I release each month ovules which can be fecundated and I have breasts which can produce milk for the offspring. But unlike cows and mares, I try to have a nice behaviour, I read a lot so I don't look too stupid in society and yes, I spend considerable resources on dressing and making up in a way which makes me nice to took at. So being called a female is, I think, quite limiting and even a bit insulting to what I am - or like to think I am.But I was speaking about cocks. I was born in the countryside, at a time when lots of people were still raising chicken in their backyards. My family was quite poor, we didn't have much of a backyard, but my neighbours had a small farm and had several cocks. A big, majestic, proud red and golden one, who was inseminating all lady hens, and a couple younger ones, who were either able to take the lead in a couple of years or would end their career as the main ingredient in a "coq au vin" dish. What majestic, beautiful, proud animals! I was fascinated by them but also a bit afraid - they always wanted to attack me, I don't know why, maybe because I was the youngest and smallest, maybe because I was so blond... But at a point in time, I started to play with them and actually to like that game. I knew that as long as I faced them and show no fear, I could dominate them. They would engage mock attacks but if I stood my ground they would not touch me. Sometimes they would win and I would scream and run for cover and my neighbour (who was also a remote uncle) would come to save me, but most often I would win and they would remain frustrated and a bit humiliated, I guess. Well, cocks will be cocks. The first time I touched a guy intimately I jumped in horror. I thought that was a bone sticking out of his body and something terribly wrong had happened to him. I knew from friends of course that he would get hard, but there was no internet at the time and I had never seen an erect cock and didn't expect that it would go that hard and proud. I was 16 and was planning to let that guy be my first but I got so scared of that cock that I ran away. I had sex for the first time at 18, after torturing the poor guy for months with only petting and getting used to his anatomy and with the idea of letting that fiery but fascinating "bone" inside me.So here it is. English is my fifth language so I don't have all the cultural baggage and nuances you native speakers have, but I like the words boob, pussy and cock and I will continue to use them. It's not deprecating and I am not purposefully vulgar and unladylike, it's just because I like these words more than their medical quivalent.Fine, this topic was supposed to be about boobs but I got lost in a discussion about vocabulary. It would actually be interesting to have a topic about the names given to our more intimate parts in different languages and traditions, but I had very important questions to ask to you guys about boobs.Well, I guess it will be for the next time...
It's an interesting subject, the names we give things and how those names can "become" vulgar over time... I guess it can be when words have a certain fashion about them and then they get used in a derogatory way... there is a phrase in my head now... 'would a pussy by another name still be a sweet'... may have replaced a word or two there.
It's a good subject as often it is hard to know what to call an intimate body part without causing offence, so thanking you for the clarification! Rx
Another wonderful mini-essay! I love the playful diversion from the stated topic... words shift in their meaning and in their power, don't they... both culturally and personally... there was a time when the dreaded 'c' word I (with which I have no problem, but I seem to be in a minority) was perfectly normal usage, then it became vulgar (hence, in England, the title of 'Count' became replaced by 'Earl' - their wives are still countesses, though, curious...). I didn't like 'pussy' for a long time, thinking it a bit twee, but I'm coming round to it now. 'Cock' has been my preferred term for as long as I can recall. And for heaven's sake, even the word 'fuck' is treated like something worse that Ebola. In our newspapers in Australia, with the exception of the Guardian, it's always f**k. I mean, we all know what the word is, just print it! 'Save the asterisk' is perhaps a campaign to start.
I don't like the c word just because it is never used in a non aggressive, non insulting way. Together with fuck, it is one of the English dirty words which means nothing else. Puss, boobs, ass are animals, Dick and Johnson are guys...
The word fuck has a place in my vocabulary, but used with parsimony. It reflects well an act. I won't say "he made love to me roughly, like I was his sex toy, and I liked it", I'll say "he fucked me well". Fuck conveys an idea. What is surprising and a pity is that it is so used as an insult. You can't say "fuck you" in French or Slavic languages as an insult - especially if you are a woman. There is always a reference to anal sex (of course, coming from historic homophobia) or to someone's mother...
Of course, how "dirty" a word is considered comes from two elements, how shameful the object or act in question is and whether that word also means something banal (in which case it sounds less dirty). In half of Europe (all Slavic languages plus Romanian) one of the most used words in street vocabulary is "pizda", which is a very dirty word for a woman's private part. In Russian, the derived adjective, pizdets, means something very bad and serious - or very dandy and flashy, while the adjective derived from a penis, huynya, means something completely unimportant. Another word which is used all the time as an interjection is the equivalent of whore (curva in most Slavic languages and Romanian, putain in French, blyad in Russian, puta in Spanish, puttana in Italian)...
So yes, sex, pussies, cocks are shameful but we like them and they sell.
Once again you dissect the meaning of things so well, a surgeon of vocabulary as it were. The word fuck has become so commonplace in the language of our younger generations that it has lost a lot of meaning and a lot of impact i believe. The word has its places and if used properly can definitely assist in making your point as you so expertly defined in your submission. Once again, thank you Flora for your insights.
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