I could write a bit about the recent revelations of the Bush administration's political meddling in climate change information, or about the extraordinary storms that have been breaking the spines of trees and tossing everything lighter than a fourth grader into the air. Instead, I'll share with you one of the strange...delights...of editing a literary journal:
I'm fretting over whether or not "douche bag," used as an epithet, is one word or two. As an object used to gently introduce liquids into body cavities, it's clearly two words. But when someone in a short story refers to himself derogatorily, one word? The Chicago Manual of Style is resolutely silent on the subject. Likewise, it has nothing to say about how to use neologisms like "fucktard," a word I've only recently run across, and which, I feel, is not as effective as "fuckchop." The latter is one I used in high school and college--and still do in particularly stressful traffic situations, though I will substitute "dillweed" when high minded folk are around. I'm not sure, but I think "fuckchop" might be a regionalism. It's a strange moment, different in detail, but not in kind, from wondering about appositives, orphaned half-stanzas, and character development.
Douche bag. So humble. So troublesome. So inexplicable.
Hmmm. Never heard "fuckchop" before. "Fucktard" yes though, and in high school, though I was more fond of "ass-hat." Of course, it all makes the urban dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuckchop
Posted by: Ellen | June 07, 2008 at 03:06 AM