Destroying artwork

[A. G. Maisey]

I thank you for your explanation of the word "pussy" and "pussification", David.

When I complemented Ariel on his use of, and until you corrected my misunderstanding, his authorship of the word, I had taken its meaning to be something along the lines of "weak as a pussy is weak".

In the form of the English language that I have used in my day to day life, for all of my life, in polite conversation we understand the word pussy to mean a cat, most especially a young cat; the word "puss" preceded "pussy" in English usage, "pussy" is what we may think of as the diminutive of "puss". This usage dates back to the 16th century, and is still current usage.

But the word "pussy" has other very legitimate meanings as well. In the late 16th century it meant a girl or a woman --- and it was at that time not considered vulgar, but it did seem to have a sexual connotation, for example, one would not refer to an elderly dowager as a pussy, but would not hesitate to call an attractive girl or young woman a pussy.

In the 18th century it was understood as the proper name for a hare.

In the 19th century it was in common use in the lexicon of the nursery to refer to anything soft and furry. In fact, the term "pussy-cat" originated in nursery usage.

When I have problems in understanding the English Language, my habitual reference is The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, so after I read your explanation of the word "pussy", I turned to that source for clarification.

I could not find any entry that verified the use of this term to refer to a woman's genitals, so I turned to the on-line version of Oxford, which is about as up-to-date in terms of English usage as it is possible to get. What I found was this:-

noun (plural pussies)
1 informal A cat.
Example sentences
2 vulgar slang A woman’s genitals.
2.1 [mass noun] Women in general, considered sexually.
2.2North American informal A weak, cowardly, or effeminate man.


From this I can see that yes, when the word is used in a vulgar context, its meaning does agree with your explanation, however, in defence of Ariel's use of "pussification" I offer the opinion that at no time in this entire thread has anybody written in a way that could by any stretch of imagination be considered vulgar.

Thus, we must accept that Ariel was not writing in a vulgar way, rather, his use of language must be considered informal use, and once again, Oxford clarifies this position by telling us that in North America the word "pussy" means "A weak, cowardly, or effeminate man". Considered in the context of this discussion Ariel's use of the word "pussification" must be understood as informal English, and most certainly not vulgar English.

So words can be understood in different ways.

As Humpty Dumpty said:-
"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less."

I offer that the same is true of understanding the meaning of a word:- we all understand what we read or hear in our own way. To Ariel, and to me, the word "pussification" had the meaning of a weakening of society, but to you the word had an entirely different meaning.

As I have commented above, the way in which a word can be understood varies during the passage of time.

During the 17th and 18th centuries in England, the word "occupy" was avoided in polite conversation, especially if that conversation took place in public. This was because at that time the word "occupy" meant "to have sex with". It was avoided in public because if overheard by the wrong person it could get you time in the stocks for the use of obscene language.

In fact, that master of the English language, William Shakespeare only used the word twice in all his writing, I believe it was once in Romeo & Juliet, and once in Henry IV.

But today the word "occupy" is about as inoffensive as a word can get.

The impact any word has depends upon two factors:- the intent of the person using the word, and the understanding of the person hearing or reading it.

I maintain that Ariel is innocent of any vulgar use of language in his use of the word "pussification".