Disclaimer: Not fit for easily-offended people... Such people please stay away from this post. And contains content that is not suitable for children.
Why is it that when you try to abuse a man in english, you usually end up abusing their mothers and not them?
Look at all the examples :
Son of a b***h - You are calling his mother, a dog.
Bastard - You abuse his mother's character by implying that he and everyone else doesn't know who his father is.
Mother-f****r - You see what I mean?
This is to name a few. Why is it so? Is it because society is patriarchal enough to deem men as un-abuse-able? And are there any names to call men which aren't mother-related?
And thanks to everyone who has commented on my earlier post... But I'm not going to stop blogging till the very end.. till 8th night to be exact! that too, prob everyday... since I'll be at home...
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Why not men?
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10 comments:
A very valid point. I have thought of this about close to 6 years back to be exact. It was when I was studying and one of my friend abused me for something, he abused me in tamil which means bastard...I just turned to him and then told him in a soft voice "If you wanna abuse me, then abuse me. Dont abuse my mother" and walked off.
You should have seen his face, it became so pale...he then came running to me and apologied to me and later he told me that my statement made him very guilty...
The reason I guess is as you said...just because of a patriarchal society...All these abusive words have been flowing down generations.
Some one's gotta find new abusive words to abuse men and publicize it and make it a trend. As far I know I dont think there is any abuse against a man
(good for me :)).
Nice post, took me back to college.
LMAO. didn't think about that. actually, they do it because men are generally mama's boys. escpescially in the west where these epithets were invented. they get easily offended when something bad is said about their mother. haven't you heard of the taunt made by heroes and villians in hindi films--"ma ka doodh piya hai to samne aa" (come out and face me if your mom had milk)./ Isn't it ooffending? hahahaha!!! greta post. cheers..
Great site punkster - Here is my wierdo talk of the day - Someday in this world, "you're no son of a bitch" could mean, 'your mother was wild, free and happy roaming - but you are not - should have got your thing from your couch potato father!'
You're no Bastard could mean "your mom could be Mary or Kundhi - but you are no Jesus or Dharma damn it!"
Mother fucker could mean "Lovely papa" when uttered by a sexual uninhibited genius son/daughter.
Never think culture and civilization doesnt change the contextual meanings.
Adjectives definitely have cultural connotations. I love dogs. I love liberal women. I wish my father loves my mother more but can never talk about it anyway. So, I think it all depends on which century we are living in.
oh and something else to mull upon.
do a search in wikipedia on 'women'. One tab which comes up is CALLED 'vulgar terms'.
now do a search on 'men' in wiki.
no 'vulgar terms' tab. Nothing. Its misogynism at its freakin worst.
Mind boggling.... I had thought about chauvinism in other levels but abuse words ! Thanks for putting the interesting thought in my head
Vidya
hahaa...yeah i've always wondered that when i hear that out on the roads..
despite the vulgarity..it takes a bit of insanity to appreciate those curse terms..
hehe..i smile everytime i hear them... =)
- oh BTW..blog hopped here! nice page!
KK:Interesting to kow I'm not the only one thinking like this... Had a bit of a tussle in my mind whether to write this post or not...
Sayan: If most men are mama's boys, then one would think that it should follow that most women are papa's girls, huh?
Sheetal:There are a few abuses that can be thrown at a man safely without abusing his mother. But they are not potent enough, if u get what I mean...
Madura: Interesting way of looking at it... I like your view!
Megs: Did you really have to do that? throw 'wikipedia' at me? Even though you know what you know? Hmmmppphhh.... but I will check it out....
Vidya: Chauvinism... Exists at all levels... bloody ******* MCP's... Its at times like this that I began to think of this... Now tell me, what potent abusive word can one put in lpace of those *'s ? without attacking a fellow female? None!
Sandai Kozhi: Thanks! And I am a lil insane, too.. :-)
So true. I had never thought about it before! Of course, there are a few exceptions - like "dirty pig" - but those aren't perceived as quite as extreme. Is it the same in your mother language?
whoa, tats a thought!! hav never looked at this perspective!! though I am not a kinda person to use too much abusive langauge, I shall restrain further frm now on :-)
btw, blog-hopped here!!
i really like this blog!
you make a good point, and there's one term which i think is terribly deregatory towards women, but noone seems to notice - the word bitching. Bitching about someone is to talk behind their backs, run them down, gossip etc. Now the implication here is that that sort of thing is typical of women, hence 'bitching'... that kind of sucks, doesnt it?
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