A phrase I found — in a 2016 National Post article about Justin Trudeau’s "sunny Liberalism" — when I looked up the word "anile" in the OED.
A Wordle spoiler follows. "Anile" is not the answer, but "anile" was accepted as a guess, though after getting the right answer, I was told that "anile" would never be the answer in Wordle.
Why not?! "Anile" is a perfectly good word. It means, the OED tells us, "Of, belonging to, or characteristic of old women; resembling an old woman. Chiefly derogatory with connotations of foolishness, senility, or decrepitude."
Is it anile of me to write this post?!
I think the NYT made it a word that would never be the answer because they predicted that users would complain that it wasn't right to use a word they didn't know. Or did they exclude it because it's insulting to women... and to the old?
To cherry-pick the OED's "anile" quotes: In his 1993 book "Culture of Complaint," Robert Hughes wrote: "It is the anile priggishness of the Puritan marm, lips pursed, seeking nits to pick." That might be something to read if you want to reminisce about the state of victim politics 30 years ago. Notice the heavy-handed use of the gendered stereotype. In 2025, the pursed-lipped prigs are often males.
Posts
32 comments:
>"Anile" is a perfectly good word. It means, the OED tells us, "Of, belonging to, or characteristic of old women; resembling an old woman.<
OK, I don't care if it's a perfectly good word - the words "anile" and "old woman" just shouldn't be used in the same sentence. Work with me here...
Anile ain't just a river in Egypt.
Great word! I didn't know it, but will use it from now on when it fits.
Two pronunciations accepted
Now you've got us all wondering if annie enjoys anal, surely not at your advanced age??? Hm... I see what you did there!
isydt, sunny liberalism, someone who locked up truckers, and gives free housing to terrorists, like omar kadr, the runt of that Egyptian clan, or hassan diab, convicted of the Rue Copernic bombing in 1980
I'd spell it a different way when I'm thinking about Justin Trudeau.
So its like senile, only for women only.
what's up with -ile words being negative?
the root is where you think it comes from,
Robert Hughes has clearly never had lice. Picking nits is nothing to scorn.
Who told you anile would never be the answer in Wordle? Or was that speculation?
Nice to see Hughes name again. Was always a deft read.
Women are greatly different from men, personality-wise. Stereotypes are correct.
Women are optimized for relationships with infants. The optimization happens because it's good for infants, and you need infants to continue the species.
If you're told that stereotyping women is bad, it's a woman dealing with an infant.
Even though anile will never be the answer in Wordle, I first came across it in the NYT crossword.
Anile:foolish old woman; Dotard: foolish old man
Might be ana-lee, like simile. You find it in musical scores all the time, like faggot.
Trudeau may or may not be Castro's biological son - but he sure acts like a Castro-type dicktator. Emphasis on "dick"
That might be something to read if you want to reminisce about the state of victim politics 30 years ago.
And the state of victim politics today, given the tedious TDS of the AWFLs’ caterwauling.
In 2025, the pursed-lipped prigs are often males.
Well I have to give you that, Professor.
take harry sisson for instance,
Let me get this straight. Martha Raye later in life was married to a much younger man. So, even though she was called "The Big Mouth" they presumably had anile sex?
Well, here's something was can all 'get behind' with Martha Raye.
Politically, Raye was conservative, in a 1984 interview, she affirmed: "I believe in the constitution, strength in national defense, limited government, individual freedom, and personal responsibility. They reinforce the resolve that the United States is the greatest country in the world, and we can all be eternally grateful to our founding fathers for the beautiful legacy they left us.
"Anile:foolish old woman; Dotard: foolish old man"
"Anile" is an adjective, so don't use it to mean old woman. It's *like* an old woman.
"Dotard" can be a noun or an adjective.
The "anus" in the etymology of "anile" is: " classical Latin anīlis belonging to, or characteristic of, an old woman < anus old woman (< the same Indo-European base as Old High German ana grandmother (Middle High German ane, German Ahne), Old Prussian ane grandmother, (with a suffix) Lithuanian anyta mother-in-law; the ending may be after that of e.g. nurus daughter-in-law, socrus mother-in-law) + ‑īlis ‑il suffix."
The "anus" in the etymology of "anus" is: "< classical Latin ānus ring or circle, posterior opening of the alimentary canal < the same Indo-European base as Armenian anowr necklace, ring, and perhaps also Early Irish áinne ring (although the latter is at least as likely to be a loan from Latin)."
I think that line over the "a" matters.
Ann Althouse said...
(Discussing the origins of anile and the distinction between anus meaning old woman and anus meaning anus.)
“I think that line over the "a" matters.”
That’s an understatement.
Doing some quick googling, the old woman anus is not a 2nd declension noun, but a 4th. And it is one of a handful of 4th declension nouns that are feminine. They decline just like their masculine 4th declension counterparts.
I am in my dotage, which makes me a dotard.
Maybe they thought their readers would think "anile" was a word you'd find right before "implant" like "penile".
The first (and maybe last) journalist I recall using the word 'anile' was R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., in The American Spectator, referring of course to Jimmy Carter. Carter may in fact have still been president at the time.
And yes, 'anus' with a short 'a' is Latin for 'old woman': pronounce the 'a' as in Spanish 'casa' - pretty much 'ah', but not as prolonged as when a doctor says "Say 'ah'". The long 'a' in 'anus' meaning butthole is just the same sound lengthened, as in the doctor's "ah". The 'nus' with a short 'u' in both words rhymes with 'push' and 'put', not 'plush' and 'putt'.
The plurals are very different: plural buttholes are 'ani' pronounced 'ah-nee', while plural old women are 'anus' with a long 'u', pronounced 'a-noose'. Oddly, Roman authors do not pun on the two words, though are a few very nasty satirical poems that mention (with a shudder) a short-a anus's long-a anus.
Not by name, though: the one I'm thinking of calls the body part a 'podex', which has a transparent etymology. Just as an 'index' is the part of the body one points with, a 'podex' is the part one farts with. I've always thought 'podex' sounds more like a modern corporation than an ancient body part, and sure enough Duck Duck Go tells me that Podex Exchange is "a leading authority in currency management within virtual environments". Happy coincidence or intentional pun? I can't tell.
Anus would show up mostly in the ablative.
Anile AND podex! Two reasons to love this place.
I dealt with a young, rather attractive bank officer from India a few times, whose first name was Anus. Her last name was a tongue twister, so we called her "Mizz."
“And yes, 'anus' with a short 'a' is Latin for 'old woman'“
Thus the phrase “Annus horribilis.”
“Anile.”
Same for penile, resembling a pen. And I once had a girl friend who was in the top 95th cuntile.
Knew that one from crossword puzzles
Ablative? Whoa, that is time traveling - half a century!
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.