Pussy is not short for pusillanimous.
That stupid post about âpussyâ being short for âpusillanimousâ pisses me off so fucking much and Iâm going to tell you why. (PS: Masters degree in English linguistics talking here yaâll.)
In short, no. âDonât be a pussyâ is not short for âdonât be a pusillanimous.â No. It isnât. And people should stop saying it. You need some reasons to believe me?
1. It doesnât make sense grammatically. Pusillanimous is an adjective â a describing words â not a noun. In the same way you canât say âDonât be a quietâ or âDonât be a smallâ or âDonât be a greenâ or âDonât be a spicyâ, you canât say âDonât be a pusillanimous.â You canât tell people not to be a/an adjective.
2. It isnât backed up by any scholarship whatsoever. Per Mirriam-Webster, the version of âpussyâ that means âweakâ or âtimidâ is short for âpussycat.â Not pusillanmous. Look up the word âpantsâ and youâll see that itâs short for pantaloons, or the word âperksâ and youâll see itâs short for perquisites. Dictionaries do note origins like that. They donât, however, state that pussy is short for pusillanimous, because itâs NOT.
3. There is plenty of documentation to connect the word âpussyâ to the concept of women. It was for a while a term of endearment for women, especially for very old or very young women. (Read any Agatha Christie book starring Miss Marple and you will probably encounter someone who refers to Miss Marple as âa sweet old pussâ or âa nice old pussycat.â In Uncle Tomâs Cabin, Evaâs father calls her âpussy.â)
It also is well known as a slang for a womanâs genitals. Per etymology online, it is âPerhaps from Old Norse puss âpocket, pouchâ (cf. Low German puse âvulvaâ)â but might also be connected to cats, based on the ânotion of âsoft, warm, furry thingâ; cf. French le chat, which also has a double meaning, feline and genital.â â It isnât just a coincidence of words, morphemes or phonemes; there seems to be a cultural connection between the idea of a cat and the idea of a woman.
4. There is also plenty of documentation for it being used to degrade men for being seen as weak or feminine. Again per etymology online, from the 1580s it was used of effeminate men. For example, âTo play pussy was World War II RAF slang for âto take advantage of cloud cover, jumping from cloud to cloud to shadow a potential victim or avoid recognition.ââ At dictionary.com, the third meaning of the word âpussyâ has four senses: 1) the vulva, 2) sex with a woman, 3) a woman viewed as a sex object and 4) a weak, timid, or effeminate man. Note that they didnât separate these four senses into completely different definitions, either. The definition of pussy as âweak manâ is seen as intrinsically related to pussy meaning âthe sexual aspect of a woman.â
5. People hear what they hear, no matter what you think youâre saying. What if I decided to say that the word âdickâ is short for âdictatorâ? And then whenever I called someone a dick I said, âbut I donât mean it as in penis, I mean it as in short for dictator!â Whether or not it was true, it wouldnât matter. What people would hear is dick as in penis, and that would be what they would understand. Similarly, even if, buried in the far mists of time, pussy really were short for pusillanimous â which I again state definitively it is not â but even if it were, that isnât how people understand it now.
6. Sometimes words are offensive just because of what they sound like. Consider, for example, the word âniggardly.â Did you sort of wince when you read that? Because I winced a little as I typed it. The thing about that word is it has nothing whatsoever to do, etymologically, with the n-word. The n-word derives from the Latin word for âblackâ (for example, the word ânegroâ means âblackâ in Spanish). Niggardly derives from a totally different source and means âmiserlyâ or âungenerous.â But we all know what it sounds like. So it has become a word that most people donât want to use anymore. And you know what? Thatâs fine. I love language, and Iâm sad to see a word die, but we have âmiserlyâ and âungenerousâ right here to fill that particular void, and I am fine to wave goodbye to âniggardlyâ because it sounds like a very offensive word. So what Iâm saying is, if a word seems offensive, then it is. Thatâs how language works. In a polite society, we donât deliberately use offensive words when other words are available that arenât offensive.
7. Using the word to draw a connection between womenâs sexuality and weak, useless men indicates that feminine sexuality is weak and that men shouldnât act like women unless they want to be ridiculed. And thatâs fucking ignorant and sexist against both genders.
8. Because it is clearly offensive, just stop. STOP. And donât fucking quote Stephen Fryâs âwho cares if itâs offensiveâ quote at me. Youâre probably taking it out of context anyway. Listen: offensiveness is important because this is a cooperative species and we should fucking work together to not be assholes. Simple enough.
TL;DR? Pussy is not short for pusillanimous. Going back through the research, the word is closely related to women, womenâs genitalia, and weak, effeminate men. The use of the word to mean âcowardâ is offensive to both genders â somewhat more to women than to men â and if you have an ounce of maturity you will stop using it that way.
