Better call this entry 'Friday afternoon work dreadfulness' in order to stay work-safe

[westernind]

Appalling office politics taking place. I hates it, I hates it I do. But I'm guessing it happens wherever office moves are planned.

I also hate bullying managers. The technique used by this particular specimen is to state an assumption as a fact. If you point out that it's an assumption, he waits a few minutes, then states it again as a fact. When you challenge it again, he then labels you as unhelpful. Personally I think he suffers from being stressed and insecure in his job but I'm buggered if I'm letting it mess up my priorities.

And now, a rant on terminology which is not-worksafe. No, I mean it. Not work-safe.

Those closer to me will know that, inspired by the Vagina Monologues, I've been doing my bit to reclaim the word CUNT; if someone uses the word as a derogatory noun (invariably to describe a male person) in my presence, it triggers a happy-dreamy muttered free-association spielette: lovely rooound cunt, furry cunt, broown, friendly-vowelled, cunt-cunt-cunt, positive word for female genitalia. La la la. "Use words for the appropriately gendered genitalia to describe the lowlives of the relevant gender", is wot I sa. Seems only fair.

Cunts aside, ("Cunts aside! cuntcuntcunt, yo ho ho!") another term has recently crawled into my field of view.

Cocksucker. What's going on here, then? Why is 'cocksucker' a term of abuse? Don't you want your cocks sucked*? Isn't it a Good Thing?

Yeah, there's an element of disingenuity. I have a perfectly-formed opinion on why it's a term of abuse; I've never heard it used to describe a woman. So, I'd be interested to hear a defence. Is there anyone out there who's prepared to argue that 'cocksucker' is value-free and not at all homophobic?

Cocksucker! Let's reclaim the word!

One last thing. I could turn the comments function off. But I'm not gonna. Play nice, no overt abuse please. But do feel free to use the word COCKSUCKER as a term of praise and positive concordances. Or even CUNT. :-)

* this rhetorically addressed to those of you as have cocks not quims. Incidentally, 'quimsucker' is a neologism as yet, I would argue, free of negative connotations.


Can you tell it's Friday afternoon?

Comments

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

mr_h_r_hughes
2005-04-15 16:27 (link)
Comment Posted Successfully
As far as 'value free' you can't say that of any word, surely. We all have our own understanding of the words we use and everyone uses them differently with different intent. So after my comments I'm now thinking that to guess too much about what intent lies behind someones words based purely on the word is foolish. Context, mood, how they act when they say it, what your relatioship to them is, all these would effect meaning. I know that there are words that I'd use as insults with some and affectionately with others.

Pushing it for a Friday afternoon

[westernind.livejournal.com]

Are you saying that in order to interpret meaning, it is necessary to be aware of context?

Re: Pushing it for a Friday afternoon

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, getting serious. Sort of. If I called you a gibbon and Anita a monkey would you know what I meant without seeing me say it, at least then you could guess from observing how I said it.

Re: Pushing it for a Friday afternoon

[westernind.livejournal.com]

In person, I would know. With the written words alone without context, not necessarily. So with just words, in the absence of non-verbal contextual information, do you think they have innate meaning?

(See how I lay a trail of tempting honey-soaked breadcrumbs leading to the concealed heffalump trap... )

Tonight is Chomsky night!

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

I need crumbs, I know what I mean but it tends to come out like an exploding balloon rather than a trickle of water, all messy and scattershot. Also I'm not always 100% keen on being pinned down about what I think...makes me feel like a pinned butterfly or something.

Without anything to explain them no, I think they have no meaning other than what you as the reader imposes upon them. I think that's what I mean (looks up for the falling mouse-trap style laundry basket).

By the way you aren't a gibbon, but Anita is a monkey. Got to go get Amy from the station now.

Monkey?

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

:-P

Re: Monkey?

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

As in 'cheeky monkey' or 'naughty monkey', you're mischievious : )

Re: Monkey?

[ephraim.livejournal.com]

Are you implying that I sleep with monkeys?

Re: Monkey?

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes and you LOVE it.

That comment was for joke purposes only Anita :)

...like a pinned butterfly

[westernind.livejournal.com]

IMHO this is the real reason Socrates was executed by the citizens of Athens. Because every time they went down to the forum, this mad old man with a long beard fixed them with a beady eye and started asking awkward questions. Ver' uncomfortable.

I have a laundry basket poised, but don't want to pin down any butteflies, and also butterfly-mindedly lose interest in dropping the basket on LJ... are you and sq'Amy house-bound (qua egg-bound?) at the weekend, or possibly feedable on Sunday? Or we could visit you.

As forbinproject and jimfer will testify, I'm simian-negative; thus deliberately not enquiring about the gibbon.

Re: ...like a pinned butterfly

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

Doing something on Sunday would be cool. The recently turned naff weather has left us with a bit of spare time.

We seem to have misplaced your phone number rather craply. Will email or summat tomorrow.

Re: ...like a pinned butterfly

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

You're not a gibbon, gibbon is slang in my family and with some friends. It's basically a friendly way of calling someone a clumsy oaf for example:

"You stood on my scale model of the Spruce Goose ?! You bloody gibbon!

Re: ...like a pinned butterfly

[ephraim.livejournal.com]

You have a scale model of the spruce goose? Cooool!!!!

Re: ...like a pinned butterfly

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's just what I call my penis...and just like the real thing it looks very impressive but can only stay up for fourteen seconds BOOM BOOM.

What am this morning, Les Dawson ?