Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 15:13:52 -0700 From: David Robertson Subject: Re: Hysterical? On Thu, 25 Apr 1996, Kathleen M. O'Neill wrote: > ...the question that sparked > this inquiry is what would be the > female genitalia equivalent of "phallic"? > Is there such a thing? (A word, that is.) > I've long heard the politically hypercorrect use the term "yonic" for this purpose, Kathleen. Specifics: Used by feminist-influenced women around 20 years old; the "o" in the word is pronounced as the "aw" in "lawn"; and of course the word derives from Sanskrit "yoni". Feels good to have a term for this, I've found, but to my ear it's also jarring to have a Sanskrit word referring to one sex and a Greek word to the 'opposite'! If we were as motivated by symmetry as we tend to believe, we'd've switched to a word like "lingamic", eh? Since "hysterical" is a word with a relatively high functional load in Modern American English. Namaste! Dave