April 28, 2005
"I killed a baby" and other euphamisms for menstruation from around the world.
My favorites: "A little ketchup with my steak", "Communists have invaded the summer house", "Congratulations! It's an egg!", and "Get the crime scene tape".
I came up with some,
"there's salsa on my meat-curtains"
"my baby hole's leaking meat"
"dracula vomited out my vagina"
did I take it too far?
No, they are pretty good. I can see myself using those on a regular basis instead of my old stand-by, "Are you there God? It's me, Cindy."
There sure were an awful lot of "euphamisms" on that site. I really liked the ones from the onion but some of them went way too far. Not mine though.
"closed for maintenance"? that's a good one.
Okay, so I have a question that I think is appropriate for this post. How inappropriate is the following?
Recently in office hours I had three students asking questions on simple harmonic motion. I had used the word "period" a number of times, and it was clear that they didn't know what that meant in the context of simple harmonic motion. So I reminded them that the period is defined as the time it takes for a complete cycle in periodic motion. I was then asked if it was measured in Hertz. So, evidently, I still wasn't connecting. So I gave a few seconds worth of thought and decided to say the following:
Period is the time it takes to complete a cycle. So it is a time. It can be measured in seconds, years, nanoseconds, etc. That is why the a woman's 28 day menstrual cycle is called a period.
The response from one of the students was, "Well, I won't forget that again!"
- All three students were female.
- I would have normally shied away from making such a comment, but I decided that we were all adults and that it was a damn good example.
- I was sort of proud of myself for overcoming the social taboo. Afterall I wasn't graphic or anything. But I told a female friend (on the thought that such an accomplishment would have made Gloria Steinem happy) and she told me to never do that again. :(
Those in my lab thought it was not only astute but completely un-complain-about-able. Don't be so uptight: guys never get to talk about this stuff so it's exciting when you get a legitimate chance. Hopefully, you will get to incorporate "that not so fresh feeling" into another discussion.
As soku points out to me, it's just not fair that we don't get to call units of 1/frequency "aunt flo's" or "crimson tides".
leroy, the only thing that would have made Gloria Steinem happy would be you earning your red wings. At least, that's what I think I read in the Ms. Magazine. I'll have to re-read the colophon.
I also think your reference was acceptable, but you also have to look at your audience. When I was an undergrad, I was a lot more uptight about things. I think I even made an effort to conceal the noises made by opening pad wrappers when I was in a public bathroom. (I didn't want anyone else to know.)
Anyway, they might still be freaked out about the whole period thing normally, and now a guy is talking to them about it, plus the guy is a superior. So, I could see how it might have made them blush. However, I can also see that in a few years and with similiar experiences they wont blush at all at an explanation like that. I think it was worth it, though: they learned a bit o' physics that they wont forget.
And Jason, that was gross.
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"A little ketchup with my steak "
I almost vomited. I still might. ughhhh.
posted by splatnikGanglion at 11:00PM CST on April 28