Why isn't anyone called 'an elbow?'

[Cerberus]

I've often pondered the etymological (

) origin of 'pussy' - anything less like a cat than a fanny I've yet to see!

View attachment 3447

I rest my case, m'Lud!

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I've often pondered the etymological (

) origin of 'pussy' - anything less like a cat than a fanny I've yet to see!

It's my understanding that the linguistic root is in "purse".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If it helps, in Early Modern English (the 16th and 17th centuries) 'pussy' meant rabbit or hare, rather than cat.

'Cunt' also shares a root with 'coney', which is another word for rabbit.

So the analogy is to rabbits, not to cats.

I'm not sure how much that helps though.

It doesn't help at all actually, because anything less like a rabbit than a fanny I've yet to see!

 

[credoconsolans]

I mean, plenty of people are dicks. If you say someone's an asshole, people know what you mean, by and large. Pussy, prick, cunt, ass, butthole... Seems like a lot of terms concentrate on a relatively small area of the body.

What are some other types of people that could be referred to as body parts?

I was thinking of elbows. I only really notice I have an elbow when it bumps into something, usually painfully. There are a few people like that in the department. I'm sure they have a function, and they must do their job....whatever it is, but I never make sure they're invited to meetings. I don't get told to run reports or questions past them. They've never sought me out to validate data on something they're doing.
The only time I even remember they're part of the division seems to be at retirement parties or potlucks, when they appear and take up a couple of seats between me and the venison chili....

They're 'Elbows.'

Any others?

Leg man
Breast man
Thigh man
Bear man (reference to lover of big hairy men, hair being an important part)
Bullock
Private eye
Rump raider
Bees knees (though technically they're the knees of an insect, not a person)

 

[bilby]

I've often pondered the etymological (

) origin of 'pussy' - anything less like a cat than a fanny I've yet to see!

It's my understanding that the linguistic root is in "purse".

That would make sense; A rabbit fur or leather purse worn on the belt (like a Sporran) was a common enough item in England in the medieval period, and the similarity in both appearance and location would be easily sufficient for the slang terms Coney>Cunny>Cunt and Pussy to develop from there. I don't have any evidence for this though, and in the absence of evidence, it is just one of those plausible sounding linguistic just-so stories that has about a 90% chance of being completely wrong.

'Purse' itself comes from the Greek 'bursa', meaning leather, via Latin, which borrowed the Greek word for use as a name for for money pouches that were made from that leather. The word 'pussy' to mean 'rabbit' probably comes from this root; Whether the word 'pussy' to mean 'cunt' comes from 'purse' directly, or via 'rabbit' or perhaps more plausibly, by a pun on both meanings by analogy to coney>cunny>cunt is lost to the mists of time.

Personally, I am just enjoying the opportunity to use the word 'cunt' a lot, while still sounding erudite.

 

[4321lynx]

I mean, plenty of people are dicks. If you say someone's an asshole, people know what you mean, by and large. Pussy, prick, cunt, ass, butthole... Seems like a lot of terms concentrate on a relatively small area of the body.

What are some other types of people that could be referred to as body parts?

I was thinking of elbows. I only really notice I have an elbow when it bumps into something, usually painfully. There are a few people like that in the department. I'm sure they have a function, and they must do their job....whatever it is, but I never make sure they're invited to meetings. I don't get told to run reports or questions past them. They've never sought me out to validate data on something they're doing.
The only time I even remember they're part of the division seems to be at retirement parties or potlucks, when they appear and take up a couple of seats between me and the venison chili....

They're 'Elbows.'

Any others?

Just saw this and it reminded me of the Russian saying "The elbow is near, but try to kiss it." It's a good saying but neither here nor there, here. . So I'm just musing... Sorry about that.

 

[4321lynx]

I don't think it's so much a small part of the body as body parts generally regarded as offensive at least in some contexts. That's mostly the sexual and waste elimination parts of the body.

Someone suggested "armpit" but I can't recall ever hearing that applied to a person, only to a place. Again, derogatory--armpits can stink.

"Heel" has also been suggested but it's use as a description of a person is not common. There's also the somewhat derogatory use--to have someone under your heel.

Places, but not people, can be described as "navel"--not derogatory, just meaning center.

Got this far in my reading now, I have not been called it but when I grew my thin and scraggy beard many years ago an acquientence exclaimed on seeing it 'Jesus Christ, what's that? It looks like an Ayrab's armpit !'.

 

[Cerberus]

It doesn't help at all actually, because anything less like a rabbit than a fanny I've yet to see!

View attachment 3457

Looks like an instrument of torture!

 

[Cerberus]

It's my understanding that the linguistic root is in "purse".

That would make sense; A rabbit fur or leather purse worn on the belt (like a Sporran) was a common enough item in England in the medieval period, and the similarity in both appearance and location would be easily sufficient for the slang terms Coney>Cunny>Cunt and Pussy to develop from there. I don't have any evidence for this though, and in the absence of evidence, it is just one of those plausible sounding linguistic just-so stories that has about a 90% chance of being completely wrong.

'Purse' itself comes from the Greek 'bursa', meaning leather, via Latin, which borrowed the Greek word for use as a name for for money pouches that were made from that leather. The word 'pussy' to mean 'rabbit' probably comes from this root; Whether the word 'pussy' to mean 'cunt' comes from 'purse' directly, or via 'rabbit' or perhaps more plausibly, by a pun on both meanings by analogy to coney>cunny>cunt is lost to the mists of time.

Personally, I am just enjoying the opportunity to use the word 'cunt' a lot, while still sounding erudite.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

View attachment 3457

Looks like an instrument of torture!

Maybe to someone who is a total asexual.

 

[Daisy]

There was Elbow from Measure for Measure.

 

[fromderinside]

The only time I even remember they're part of the division seems to be at retirement parties or potlucks, when they appear and take up a couple of seats between me and the venison chili....

They're 'Elbows.'

Any others?

They're elbows and pricks so just fall back on the one we all love to use our elbows to jerk it off.

To me these are the people who only appear when we have to use our elbows to form a salute to honor them. Still, its better to call them pricks.

 

[dendrast]

I mean, plenty of people are dicks. If you say someone's an asshole, people know what you mean, by and large. Pussy, prick, cunt, ass, butthole... Seems like a lot of terms concentrate on a relatively small area of the body.

What are some other types of people that could be referred to as body parts?

I was thinking of elbows. I only really notice I have an elbow when it bumps into something, usually painfully. There are a few people like that in the department. I'm sure they have a function, and they must do their job....whatever it is, but I never make sure they're invited to meetings. I don't get told to run reports or questions past them. They've never sought me out to validate data on something they're doing.
The only time I even remember they're part of the division seems to be at retirement parties or potlucks, when they appear and take up a couple of seats between me and the venison chili....

They're 'Elbows.'

Any others?

An elbow on a tree is a crook.

Was Nixon an Elbow?