Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Bad Word

Given the way I swear like a sailor, it might surprise you to find that there is one “bad word” that I really hate. A word that I feel should be expunged from the English language completely. A word that when directed at me, makes me want to punch the speaker in the face seventy-thousand times. That word?

Nag.

I can damnshitassholedickheadmotherfucker with the best of them, but that one word makes steam come out my ears and sends me into fits of rage.

It’s a word that may have started off somewhat innocuously, but over the years, has turned into a word absolutely dripping in misogyny. Men have been trained for generations to use this word to immediately invalidate any concern or request that a woman has, and I for one am damned sick of it.

Because if it has been weeks, or months, or years since the storm door has been broken, the trim has gone unfinished or - God Help Me – the smoke alarms have not been working properly, it is very much not nagging. It is negligence. And yet, as soon as you hear a woman’s voice talking (Or asking. Or begging) about a project or job that needs to be done, that very special man thing kicks in and the VERY BAD WORD comes out and then the women, though completely correct and justified in her request or observation is now nothing more than irrational, nagging harpy, and mr. poor pitiful me can go back to his hockey game or guitar playing or magazine reading.

It’s time to stop accepting this word. The next person who uses it in my presence is in BIG TROUBLE.

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7 comments:

Unknown said...

Amen. And after a year of begging Big G to fix the goddammed outlet in our bedroom that caused all of the electrical things to short out every time I turned on that ONE lamp, and HE insisted that _I_ "just call an electrician", I finally said FUCKIT one night at 10:30pm and started fixing it myself before the house burned down. I knew the wires inside were just loose, but also exposed, and thus, dangerous, DUH. So, THEN Mister High and Mighty decides I might electrocute myself and takes over the job. Couldn't resist a round or seventy of "I told you so" when the problem was solved by sticking that ONEDAMNWIRE back in the outlet. Yes, I DARE YOU to call me a nag.

BTW: I also hate the 'C' word, and yet hear it often on the streets of the burgh, uttered by dimwit teenagers. Apparently it is the fashionable replacement to the N word. Gah.

meno said...

Calling someone a nag is most often just another technique in a long line of ways to avoid work.

Chris said...

Kinda funny.. Now that I think about it, hubby has NEVER used that word. At least, not to my face.

I think he learned a long time ago that I will ask him to do a job ONCE and if he doesn't get on it within the week, I'll do it myself. And if it gets screwed up in the process, it will be screwed up beyond repair. LOL

I am a Tornado ~ proven fact! said...

Oh ... I have a word!

Flustered. DO NOT CALL ME FLUSTERED ... I'm angry, passionate...whatever I'm not FLUSTERED.

and I have a phrase (this drives me insane and every man I've ever known has said it to me at least once)....

"I think you should seek professional help"

KISS MY A**, I think YOU should seek professional help (contractors, plumbers, painters, dishwashers) and GET SOMETHING DONE IN THIS HOUSE INSTEAD OF SITTING ON YOUR FAT BUTT!

HA!

Quarantine Hobby said...

Agreed.

I'm happy to say that Zach has never once called me a Nag. Or a Bitch. Or, honestly, any nasty term. I think he knows better.

Burgh Baby said...

Nag doesn't really bother me, but only because it's very easy to fight back with, "If you had done it the first time I asked, I wouldn't be asking again. Quit whining." "Whine" happens to make Mr. Husband INSTANTLY angry, so it's a powerful weapon.

*Tanyetta* said...

I'm with you on this. If everyone just carried out their role in the house, we wouldn't have these issues. The storm door is broken, UMMMM that's the husband's job. Why is he tripping? LOL

I LOVE THIS:

**damnshitassholedickheadmotherfucker**

TSHIRTS GO ON SALE NEXT WEEK :)