Names.

[rivka]

Okay, I have to post something so that bad news doesn't stay on the top of my journal for the week that we're at SUUSI. (Laptop was stolen, remember, so no updates from the road.) After packing every imaginable item in the world, however - do you have any idea how much gear three people, one of whom is a toddler, require for a week's active vacation bracketed by a long and tedious car trip? - I am out of energy for posting anything particularly brilliant, so I think I'll just point and rant:

What is with parents who deliberately decide to teach their daughters cutesy names for female genitalia? Especially, for god's sake, "girl parts" - which seems to be one of the most popular options? Should I go back and try to expunge the word "elbow" from Alex's vocabulary, in favor of "bendy parts?" After all, as these euphemizers point out defensively, it's not technically inaccurate.

Also: Something is seriously wrong when women who have actually had a baby come out of their vaginas don't understand the difference between a vagina and a vulva.

Also also: Something is extra-specially wrong with the linguist who claims that, because adult women futz around embarrassedly with euphemisms, it's not linguistically "correct" to teach children the anatomical names, because "it's not what native adult speakers spontaneously generate." What. The. Hell?

Comments

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

*shrug* But you know what they're talking about. Maybe not whether they're talking about the vagina or the clitoris, but you know perfectly well that they're not talking about their toes or the earth's core. It's quite easy for this to turn into a "why can't young people speak properly instead of using that AWFUL SLANG" rant.

Me, I don't always say "breasts", I often say "boobs" or "tits"; I don't always say "homosexual," I usually say "gay"; I don't always say "piss" or "shit", I'd probably teach a child "pee" and "poop"; and while I think they certainly should know the accurate names of all their anatomy, I've got no problem with referring to the whole thing as "girl parts", "down there", their "personal area", or even their "junk". Why the hell not?

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

The only context I've seen it referred to as "junk" is in Amptgard boffer fighting, as in "Sorry about the junk shot, you OK?"