Did you read this post title and think hey, what's with that language on Althouse? It's from Ladies Home Journal. What's with that language in Ladies Home Journal?
And how bad is "t*ts," anyway? It's on the original George Carlin 7 Words You Can't Say on TV list, but even he, even way back when he started the list, immediately said "t*ts" didn't really belong on the list:
T*ts doesn't even belong on the list, you know. It's such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname. 'Hey, T*ts, come here. T*ts, meet Toots, Toots, T*ts, T*ts, Toots.' It sounds like a snack doesn't it? Yes, I know, it is, right. But I don't mean the sexist snack, I mean, New Nabisco T*ts. The new Cheese T*ts, and Corn T*ts and Pizza T*ts, Sesame T*ts Onion T*ts, Tater T*ts, Yeah. Betcha can't eat just one. That's true I usually switch off . But I mean that word does not belong on the list.
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Ha, ha. In what order, I wonder?
The article was very interesting. My husband was just asking me about this the other day - what women talk about in the locker room. I said the very same thing as the author's wife.
Makes me jealous, too. I know I only get the tamest stuff passed on to me, but it still sounds like a lot more fun in the guys' locker room.
I think it's quite vulgar, similar to the c-word, and don't think they should have used it. It's a classic feint used to appear edgy and critical of edginess at the same time. For a women's magazine, it also says "oh, those horrible boys."
Pat: But it's not like the c-word, because you never try to insult anyone by calling him a tit. (Or do you?) All the worst words are things you can call somebody when you want to be mean.
That said, I don't like the word myself. It would never be my choice of term. (And there are SO many to choose from.)
Well, "tits" in this article is a challenge of sorts. After all it's a women's magazine and they don't write about cancer of the tits. I agree it can be playful, but it's not in this context, that's all. I compare it to the c-word, because it makes me go "eeuw" when I hear it used in public. So that's just me and my sensibilities.
PatCA: Interesting observation. It made me Google "cancer of the tits." Zero! That's surprising. I note that the masculine equivalent "cancer of the balls" does come up, though not often. Interestingly, one quote is from Lars von Trier:
"I still fear cancer of the balls. That's the way it's supposed to be. I guess there's always something which prevents life from being easy. The breaks I've had in my life have been bloody short."
English is not his first language.
Lars von Trier. Now there's something that makes me go ewww.
Bad? Not "friendly sounding"?
I agree, but how do you figure it being in Ladies' Home Journal?
Slightly off-topic - there doesn't exist a satisfactory word for the organ technically called the "penis." Which of course is the the most unsatisfying word in our language. But everything else is vulgar.
("Balls" is a great word but describes a nearby but different attribute.)
It's only your emotions that are making the words seem wrong. Change them.
I always kind of liked the term 'jubblies', or at least ever since Austin Powers used it.
I think the chattiness of guys in locker rooms is a function of both time of day and the kind of place it is. I found that us early morning guys (6-6:30-ish) don't do much yakking, but when I've popped in later in the day, there has been more convo going on. Also the place I go now is mostly weight training, no real competitive stuff like handball or basketball; weights kind of attract the solitary weirdos, I think.
I think men and women act differently when nekkid depending on who it is they're nekkid around. A friend of mine was telling me how she was in the shower and yelled out to a (female) friend if she wanted to just jump in or should she turn off the water and stuff. They ended up just trading off, which, between two guys, would be totally bizarre behavior. OTOH, I told her us guys would stand around chatting about sports or whatever with another stark naked male in a locker room and think nothing of it.
Of course, we always assume y'all are in your locker rooms having mock towel fights in which the towels you wrap yourselves in keep slipping off, etc. That's the way it is, right?
Let me clarify: the word penis, for me, is icky. Too technical and something else too; seemingly a feeble attempt to drain the muscle in question of all virility.
The other words - say, for example, "cock" - I don't mind them. But they're received hesitantly at best in most contexts.
Just so you know, I have zero insecurities in this department. I am fully a confident male. Absolutely no doubt about that. Now I have to go to a craft fair with my wife.
I'm not much of a fan of "tit" (though no WAY would I equate it with "c"), but perhaps that's mainly because 1) it makes me think of adolescent boys in of junior-high age and 2) my mind can't help completing the word with "-ty bars," an unappetizing phrase to me.
However, I think I may revise my attitude, if possible, after reading "fun bags." No offense, but I hate, hate, hate that phrase, at first sight.
Yuck!
Live and learn. And no accounting for what one person finds utterly repelling but another playful.
(twm: that's not singling out you. My reaction is just that: mine, no more, no less. For myself, "protection from offense" is not a right.)
Ann,
Guys use "tits" in demeaning ways, almost always in reference to other guys. E.g, titty baby, worthless tit, tits on a boar.
My sense is that the c word is almost always highly offensive to women, and probably offensive to most guys when in the company of women, but not very offensive if at all in a locker room, but discretion is required.
It's all in the company you keep although I know Catholic priests who swear like sailors around the guys.
TWM: You forgot boobs. Or is that a women's word?
Ann: You can insult someone by calling him a boob.
Paul: There used to be a bread store in our neighborhood called Ecce Panis. Naturally, we couldn't resist calling it Icky Penis.
Amba: Good point about boob... And Ecco Panis... LOL.
I'd just like to say that "tit" seems to refer to something very small. I find that strange.
Also, I'd just like to say this post, with these comments, is going to attract Google searchers for the rest of this blog's days. That wasn't my intention. I'm just realizing that it's true.
In "Carrie," the psychotic fundie mother called them "sin pillows."
"Tits" to me is onomatopoetic and is too teeny tiny a word to evoke a breast -- it sounds more like just a nipple, like an animal's teats.
But I find all these words poetic in one way or another, even when they're insulting. Even the "c" word, whch is onomatopoetic too, sort of snug- fitting and rubbery. And I've always gotten a huge kick out of the word "pussy." They're the poetry of the mixed emotions between the sexes.
No when people Google "cancer of the tits" they're going to get this blog.
Last word: if they're really big, they could be bazooms . . .
Camping out in Vermont once we went to the little local store for beer and a guy walked in, eyed me and said in a predatory voice, "Nice rack." That one gave me a chill, because it implied that he'd just as soon shoot me and hang them on the wall as a trophy. I got right away that it was a hunter's term -- it's what they call a mounted set of antlers from a trophy buck.
Oh, I can't shut up on this subject, I have another story. In the late '60s, when it was all the thing to go braless, I tried it once. I am not a size D but I'm not built to go braless either. There was a lot of . . . motion. A cop passed me on the street and said out of the corner of his mouth, "The cannonball express." In my early 20s, I was mortified and never went without a bra again. Now I think it's pretty funny.
I feel like co-authoring a play with amba: "The Tit Monologues." Or should it be Dialogues?
So I'm thinking what I need to do to get my guy to open up and talk more is redecorate my bathroom. Out with the shabby chic furnishings, lavender essential oils and colorful Martha Stewart towels and shower curtain. In with lockers, benches, open shower and white towels. Then, get him naked.
"Nice rack" -- I'm picturing more of a pool table concept.
Susan: Brilliant!
One of the funnniest moment in Anchorman is when the announcer for the local news introduces Christina Applegate as "Tits McGee"
I don't think talkativeness among men is purely dependent on the level of dress. I think the sports/gym context is probably more important. In college, we had semi-communal showers, and it was dead-silent the entire time. In fact, it was an unspoken convention to time your exit so that no more than one person was in the dressing area at any time.
On the other hand, I have definitely overheard multiple women singing together in the shower. Sorority rushee bonding? One can only speculate.
Susan -- I'm not sure if that idea belongs in Cosmopolitan or Architectural Digest, but you may be on to something.
Ann -- the Titalogues? (Titalongs?) Hmmm. Laying claim to some risqué part of the anatomy as one's turf seems to be a reliable shortcut to wealth and fame, or at least notoriety.
Maybe a musical: "Tits!"
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OK, I'll bet I'm the last on this thread, but I just have to say:
Only a bit ago did I get around to sharing some anecdotes from this thread with my husband, including the new thing I learned, "fun bags."
First, he laughed, because it's not so often that there's a phrase, in any area, that he's heard that I've not.
Then he proceeded to list other "-bag" variations.
Then he did so for a couple of those, in iSpanish
Then in Italian.
My husband freely and openly admits that his "weak link" is foreign language. And it's true.
Yet this.
(From the man who doesn't use the word "damn." And who has been munificently willing to overlook my vast personal knowledge of, well, both explicit and merely suggestive--shall we say---"slang," as long as I don't use it, which I don't, generally speaking, and haven't for years. Not equatin', only sayin'.)
The contemplation of tits bring out the damndest things in people, and who am I to comment?
So it goes. And so the paradigm shifts.
LOL.
To quote Python:
Shut your festering gob, you tit! Your type really makes me puke, you vacuous, coffee-nosed, maloderous, pervert!!!
The Young Ones also used "you tit" as an insult.
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