What kinda douche do ya gotta be to look up the etymology of “douche-bag?”
I mean we all know that it’s a derogatory term derived from a previously solely clinical context…..but why is the word “douche” such an amazingly fun word to pronounce, use, and otherwise employ to describe someone?
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According to Wikipedia:
“The word “douche” comes from the French language, in which its principal meaning is a shower (it is thus a notorious false friend encountered by non-native speakers of English; the French phrase for vaginal douching is douche vaginale, meaning vaginal shower). The word “douche” is also used in English as a derogatory slang term (see slang uses below).”
“Slang uses:
Douche bag, or simply douche, is considered to be a pejorative term in most of the English-speaking world. The slang usage of the term dates back to the 1960s.[6] The term implies a variety of negative qualities, specifically arrogance and malice.”
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According to Dr. Bill Long’s “Speller’s Diary” :
“Douche-bag (1963). I wonder if you guessed that douche-bag was introduced earlier than “dirt-bag.” Even the OED has something about douche-bag. The word douche, with this spelling, goes back to the 18th century, but “douche-bag” doesn’t occur until the 20th and, at first, in a medical context. For example, in a gynecological handbook for nurses, from 1908, we have the advice to “hang the douche-bag eighteen inches above the level of the patient’s hips.” By 1967, according to the OED, the term came into its more prominent contemporary usage: “Douche bag, an unattractive co-ed. By extension, any individual whom the speaker desires to deprecate.” By the time I made it to the university in 1970, the language of “douche bag” was in the air, but it was almost universally applied to males. Once again, the males take over what properly belongs to women. Isn’t that the complaint of the feminists? Well, at least we humanists finally took over a scientific term and used it for our own noble purposes.”
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Hmmm…….
This means that by constantly using the word “douche,” indeed building an entire blog around it, I am currently being misogynist. Which is SO douchey!
