Homophobes, engineers, and other alien life forms

[Martha Cosgriff <mcosgriff -at- TELE-TV -dot- COM>]

     Here I sit gently rapping, tap-tap-tapping, on my computer keys,
     wondering whether quietly and sensitively to remove a
     chronologically-challenged file from my molecularly tightly-packed
     circular storage medium.

     I believe that the expression "pantywaist" is NOT homophobia, but
     derives from children's clothing where the trousers were buttoned to
     the shirt.  I am (alas) old enough to remember having pajamas of just
     that style when I was about three years old.  A man who is a
     "pantywaist" is not necessarily "effeminate" but rather, "childish;"
     although certainly the shift in meaning of "pantywaist" to indicate
     being effeminate rather than being childish could certainly be
     construed as a type of misogyny.  A "pantywaist" is a man or older boy
     who would cry and run away from a fight, as a little child would.

     While no one is denying the existence of homophobia, let's not assign
     it to place where it (etymologically speaking) really doesn't exist.
     The term term "pantywaist" coming to mean "effeminate" is really a
     very crude slap at womankind, which is called upon daily to be
     courageous and resourceful in the face of prejudice and abuse around
     the world (in some countries of course far, far more so than others).

     While we're on the subject of "kinder and gentler" speech (as our
     Canadian friend put it in a recent submission to this forum), I have
     always found the expressions "abort" and "miscarry" to be particularly
     loathesome, since they deal with physiological tragedies applicable
     only to women, and should be used, like invective, in written or
     spoken language only where a significant effect is possible by their
     use; which is to say, hardly ever.

     Yet, these "female-based" words are even more prevalent since the
     advent of computers (as in the DOS prompt: "Abort? Retry? Cancel?").

     "Yep, it's F-----D." (from a group of engineers standing around a
     crashed computer.)

     "I nuked that file." (same source)

     I mean, are we all, linguistically speaking, turning into frat rats?

     While it has a certain pungent humor, this type of speech is hardly
     sober, temperate, or scientifically precise.

     Yours Faithfully,
     M.