Thursday, April 19, 2012

Whore

Whore - noun verb

1. a woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse,usually for money; prostitute; harlot; strumpet.
2. to act as a whore.
3. to consort with whores.
4. Obsolete. to make a whore of; corrupt

Firstly a clarification: Yes, this blog is called "I love to love the words I love," and no, I don't love the word whore. Except I sort of do. I wish whore meant kitten. How perfect wouldn't that be? Listen to that sound whooore. It sounds cuddly and fluffy and puffy and cute, doesn't it? But yes, whore is the word of this blog post, because I do love words, and I think words are important. Today, I'm talking about the word whore just because it is a word, and I love words.
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My school is filled with wonderful people. I had lunch today, with a few  different girls and they are in every way fun to talk with. They talk in broad strokes and colorful expressions. One of them in particular uses such grandiose words, even when describing minuscule things, that when she arrives at her wedding day, I cannot imagine she will have anything left to describe her husband with than supercalifraglitisticexpialidocious. They are a blast to listen to, a blast to chat with, and the way they talk makes me truly sorry that I've never had many friends, especially not of the female persuasion.

Now, don't get me wrong, these are really bright ladies! They read, they discuss, they think and they talk about important things (in between nail polish and other people's behaviour). Today, however, they caught me completely of guard mid lunch. They were talking about clothing. I had zoned out and focused on my food and was contemplating buying a new lunch box, when my subconscious danger-alert went off in the back of my head. One of them had just said something like: have you seen 6th graders now a days? They're whores!
My shock must have been visible, because one of the others looked at me and said "No, but they are. Have you seen the way they dress?" I heard confirming sounds around the table.

Up until now, the conversation had been so funny, clever, elegant and interesting. But this part blew my mind. Is this what we do? Really? We, women in university, still use "whore" as an acceptable description of people, based on how they dress? And 11-year old girls, no less. Seriously?

Now, I realize this wasn't meant literally. They do not think all 11 year old girls are prostitutes, and I get that.  I also understand this has become quite common in Norway (and I'm sure my American friends will be appalled by this), and that even politicians in later years have been called whores by other self declared adults. I understand it is just "a figure of speech." I understand that "this is how people talk now a days." But seriously? Seriously‽ 
Using crude, vulgar and gendered epithets is, and should forever remain, a sign of bad manners, low education, aggression and low intelligence. Why on earth would we let "whore" slide up to "acceptable derogatory terms"? Why on earth would we, bright, otherwise well behaved, good mannered ladies in higher education WANT to take part in the normalization of such offensive speech? Think about it! You can make a difference here!

I have arrived at the conclusion that the only possible explanation is "we've never thought about it." So now, I'm begging you all. Think about it. Take a good hard look at your vocabulary and consider your choices!

Feel free to call me inappropriately dressed, a pretentious snob, brown noser, geek, nerd, coccydynia, miscreant, nincompoop, idiot, simpleton or even, if you absolutely have to, and you can't find a more learned word, call me a bitch. But do not call me a whore.

You see, I give it away for free. 

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