Posted on 11/02/2005 by Pondering RedStapler
Viewed: 520 times
Someone just used this following sentence in a corp. meeting I attended:
“We’d like someone who is conscious of detail, but not someone who is anal”.
That got me thinking, in my daydream world, exactly what do people mean when they use the word “anal”. I’ve always passed it on as being a word connected to analytical, and have used this word myself once or twice.
So anyway, I got back to my desk and decided to see for myself exactly what the word “anal” means. Needless to say I’m shocked, disgusted, and humiliated that I, as well as other professionals have been fooled into using a slang term as common language.
Feast your eyes on the true dictionary meaning of the word “anal”:
a·nal ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nl)
adj.
Of, relating to, or near the anus.
Psychology.
Of or relating to the second stage of psychosexual development in psychoanalytic theory, roughly from ages one to three, during which gratification is derived from sensations associated with the anus and defecation. The anal stage is preceded by the oral stage and followed by the phallic stage. Indicating personality traits that originated during toilet training and are distinguished as anal-expulsive or anal-retentive. So then I saw the word anal-retentive, and I thought…maybe that is the word people are referring to, and maybe that word isn’t so bad. So I looked up the meaning of Anal-retentive:
a·nal-re·ten·tive (nl-r-tntv)
adj. Psychology
Indicating personality traits, such as meticulousness, avarice, and obstinacy, originating in habits, attitudes, or values associated with infantile pleasure in retention of feces.
SO IN TRANSLATION, I THINK THE CEO WAS ACTUALLY SAYING:
“We’d like someone who is conscious of detail, but not someone who will hold their crap back.”
POST A COMMENTJohnny Fastlane(11/03/2005)
Well, I know what WTP is talking about. It pertains to the genitals of a whale. True.
Ponder(11/03/2005)
WTP, I owe you and apology. I thought you were calling me a dork. Now I realize you actually had a reason for having me look up dork.
siggy(11/03/2005)
Yeah WTP was just offering another interesting "did you know" thing to look up. And I've heard the whale thing too. Don't know it's origins on how dork took the meaning we know today. Yet here now I feel like one, sitting here at work discussing this. =)
ILRatClub(11/03/2005)
Did you know the word "Dude" is actually a hair on an elephants butt!!!!
Walk the Planks (11/02/2005)
While you have your dictionary out, look up the word "dork." It'll surprise you!
Pondering (11/03/2005)
dork ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dôrk) n. Slang. A stupid, inept, or foolish person: “the stupid antics of America's favorite teen-age cartoon dorks” (Joshua Mooney). Vulgar Slang. The pen*s.
Pondering (11/03/2005)
Hey Walk The Planks. I didn't find anything interesting about Dork. But I did find this definition that I thought you might be interested in... par·a·noid ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pr-noid) adj. Relating to, characteristic of, or affected with paranoia. Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others: a paranoid suspicion that the phone might be bugged.
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