Monday, March 16, 2009

The Bit*h is Back

The other day I came across the word "termagant" in the biography of Piet Mondrian. He wasn't a termagant, someone in his circle of theological acquaintances was. Mondrian couldn't have been a termagant because by definition (I looked it up) a termagant is a quarrelsome, scolding woman; shrew.
"Gee." I thought. "This sounds a lot like the definition of the word harridan." So I looked that one up. Harridan - (noun) - a vicious, scolding woman; a shrew.
What the heck, I looked up shrew. Shrew - (noun) - a woman with a violent, scolding or nagging temperament.
I don't want to implement Orwell's Newspeak - but do we need all these words that mean the same thing?
And if we do, in all fairness, where are all the words that mean "a scolding, quarrelsome, nagging man?"

song: The Bit*h is Back • artist: Elton John

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