thoughts on English

[ltgmars]

Is there a single word designated for the feeling you have when you have to go to the bathroom?

Like, a single word. There's a single word for most everything else that humans find relevant and/or necessary: hungry, thirsty, sleepy, horny. But there isn't one for having to go to the bathroom in general (without getting into specifics like constipation, etc.). What are our thoughts on this? Should this be rectified? What authorities can we contact to right this wrong? Who's the modern-day Shakespeare who can bring a new word for this purpose into our language? What should the word be?

Whatever it is, I'm that right now. D:

Comments

[eternitat.livejournal.com]

And would that be for needing to urinate or defecate?

Maybe "runny" for both.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I kind of think of noses, too, when I say "runny". Or undercooked eggs. But it might work. :3

[whisper132.livejournal.com]

You know, it was probably what "pissy" was used for until the vernacular changed its meaning.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Urban Dictionary doesn't seem to have any etymological clues on where "pissy" came from, unfortunately. Where are our language authorities??

[whisper132.livejournal.com]

I suggest checking the OED. It might actually be in there.

we have three perfectly good words for that!

[cloudkucooland.livejournal.com]

hassapee
hassapoo
or the catch-all: hassagopotty

Re: we have three perfectly good words for that!

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Consider my vocabulary expanded. *high-fives*

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

"full"?

You could just make up your own words: urinatious and defecatious, perhaps?

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I really like the sound of "urinatious", actually. I'ma use it.

[badger-child.livejournal.com]

leaky

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

!!!!!!!!!! You're alive!!!! Are you still in Europe? Are you at Stanford? How are you??????

My heart has been leaky because I haven't talked to you in such a long time. Let's catch up soon, please.

[datenshi-blue.livejournal.com]

ROFL There is a word in Spanish that means exactly that you need to go RIGHT NOW to the bathroom. The poo part, at least. The word is "apretón". XD

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

No! Foiled again by Spanish!!

English is one of those languages that doesn't have really handy single-words for common ideas and phrases. In Japanese, they have a word for when people go to the bathroom in groups (as many women do). No such word in English.

[rebecka-jo.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, this is so creepy, so please excuse me. But. I saw your post at arashi_on, and I looked at your profile (...), and I see you're studying Gender & Sexuality and Asian Studies at Haverford. Putting aside that I'm jealous, I was wondering if you've thought about graduate schools on the east coast for those concentrations?

I'm assuming a lot here (that you're going to grad school, that you're continuing on the same route of study), but. I am currently looking into serious Master's programs for (history) gender&sexuality and Asian studies, but most promising prospects are out West. I'd like to stay on the Eastern seaboard, if I can. So who better to ask than a Haverford student with the same majors as myself?

Okay, that was really long. And unsettling? D: I apologize if this is rude. Oh my god, it's so nosy and rude, isn't it? But I got so excited at the prospect of talking to someone with my majors who doesn't feel that the University of Florida is the pinnacle of education.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Haha, totally not creepy at all. Or... maybe creepy? But I do it all the time anyway, so don't feel bad. I don't mind. XD

I'm really excited to meet another one of our kind! I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in my year, since neither the EAS major nor the GenSex concentration is particularly popular, and a combination of both is even rarer. I'm sorry to say, though, that I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. I did try to set up an appointment with my GenSex advisor to talk about grad schools and whatnot (I think I'd be going down the GenSex route because I'd rather be doing something with the LGBTQ community than be studying forever as an academic in the EAS department). But apparently my advisor is a huge flake, and even though I e-mailed her twice and ran into her between those e-mails, mentioning it, we haven't had a chance to meet and discuss options yet.

Though I suppose it'll be happening soon enough. If I do eventually meet with her to talk about grad schools (which would include which grad schools around these parts are decent for GenSex), I'll let you know, eh? :3

Sorry I couldn't help right away. D: But I'm glad you commented, even if you're feeling creepy about it. It made my day to hear from another Asian Studies/GenSex student! :D

[rebecka-jo.livejournal.com]

Uho! I feel a whoop comin' on!

I'm excited as well. I'm lucky because my school recently signed a contract with Peking University, so we're having Asian mania, basically, and expanding our EAS department. Unfortunately, some of the Institute's scholars (Peking professors) want nothing more than to talk about the merits of Chinese people. And there are many, but their answers about GenSex leave something to be desired:

"Sociologists in China are researching gender and sexuality in great detail currently. Gay people and women and China have better developed identities and are happier than those dirty Japanese, I hate them in other Asian countries."

^ (Xie Laoshi, Friday, 13 Feb 2009. I swear.)

But. I am interested in Georgetown and NYU, because their GenSex departments are great, but EAS... not so much. I'm with you, I am more concerned with LGBT issues, but I feel like Sexuality and gender norms and interactions in China/Taiwan/Japan are so interesting and important. You know, I feel like the root of a lot of heterosexism and homophobia is, well, misogyny and religious extremism, but also because 'heterosexual' people don't identify with 'gay' people and don't realize the contributions of LGBT individuals in history. And East Asia is exciting because of the plethora of historical same-sex material (that survived the political purgings) that hasn't been looked at seriously yet.

And one last thing (because I've been dying to ask someone): While I'm an Essentialist (as opposed to a Social Constructionist), the absolutism of both views bother me. I do believe people with exclusive same-sex desires have always existed and manifested, but I also acknowledge society's role in developing modern gay identity. The divide between the two schools of thought is getting deeper and it's pretty destructive. Have you have encountered this issue in your GenSex classes? It has always frustrated me.

So yes, reply at your leisure, and do let me know your thoughts (only if my monster comment didn't exacerbate the creepy) :D. And I also have no idea what I'm going to do (I say Archivist, but really now), and my advisor too is a huge hippie... actually, yes, a huge hippie who says, "Let it be" a lot. In my fantasies I'm some sort of Historican-Archeologist hybrid who uncovers many catamite scrolls in the emperor's tomb and writes about it. So yes, realistic :D(y)

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I can't claim to be a graduate studies advisor or anything, but I feel like you might have better luck studying/researching something if you go by region first, concentration second. If you found a good enough EAS department, you'd be able to find a professor who would help you research all of the GenSex things you want to look at in that region.

Out of curiosity, what kinds of things specifically are you interested in? I'm particularly taken by the differences in perceived/expressed masculinity in Asian nations (like Korea and Japan) and with the US. Last year in a Contemporary Japanese Visual Culture class I took at Swarthmore, I did a research project on the development of the "bishounen" and how that character has been established and proliferated throughout Japanese culture (both in animated media and in real life, as is the case with the long-haired, waify pretty boys that we've come to know and love). I think for my senior thesis next year I want to look at the influence on Japanese culture of male crossdressing, though I haven't refined my ideas enough to be able to write you a summary yet. XD

I actually haven't encountered the Essentialist/Social Constructionist divide in my classes, since I've never taken a real GenSex theory class. (Thank you, liberal arts college, for not requiring an intro theory course.) I have encountered really basic theorists and feminists like Foucault and Butler, but only in the context of getting a broader historical idea of how GenSex as a study has developed and not on the specific theories behind it. But now that you mention it, I have noticed the war between Essentialism and Social Constructionism. I suppose that while most people will concede that there's scientific and historical evidence of both, they hesitate to say that same-sex attraction is a product of a mix of the two just because they are supposed to be opposing forces. I mean, really, how half-assed does it sound to say, "Well, it's a little bit of both"?

Also, your dream job sounds amazing. Reach for the stars!!

[rebecka-jo.livejournal.com]

Today I heard from my favourite professor that the University of Maryland has a very reputable Public History doctoral program (for my Archivist dream), but. Considering what you said, I realize how important to me it is to make an academic contribution, and not just secure a job for myself. So long as Target keeps allowing me to live by their dumpsters, I'm cool.

I do not know these bishounen you speak of. D: Seriously, it's amazing that you wrote about the perceived masculinity issue - the number one thing I hear from American women concerning Asian men is, "They're too feminine, they look feminine" whilst the (Korean especially) culture boasts its overarching masculinity. I was reading some Japanese newspaper a few weeks ago and one of the opinion columnists lamented the 'infiltration of the feminine' in the fashion of young men. He openly wondered, "Is it the fashion that makes our young men like girls, or have our young men become so passive that fashion must follow to suit them?" So I think your planned contribution to this area is timely, and I am excited to hear that you're interested in the influence of crossdressing, and crossdressers on the larger culture. I know many Japanese people, like Americans, don't know their own history, so to see a pervading effect... interesting to say the least.

I'm interested in the evolution of men-with-men in Chinese and Japanese history - how the personal relationships of these bonds has evolved. I am looking at the Buddhist temples, and the Imperial court, and the theatre, and the military for evidence of how same-sex relations developed, to what extent they were expressed and accepted, and how it relates to the (essential) idea that orientation has been historically recognized. (Run-on sentence mania, basically.) I'd like to stay away from deviations from the masculine norm as much as possible and focus on relationships between everymen in those male spheres.

You should know Focault haunts me in my dreams, taunting my ideas, calling me an apologist. D: Only on college campuses do these theories remain relevant, but. You're absolutely right; one of my favourite books from last year was "Sexual Fluidity", wherein the author (Lisa Diamond) basically argued that female sexuality is both essential and constructed. I recommend it. <3

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

FYI, you have been friended. :P

[rebecka-jo.livejournal.com]

... WHO ARE YOU.







Mutual friending because I like you.



A lot.


D:

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Friendshiiiiip~