"douche" vs. "douche-bag"

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 22, 2004, at 4:40 PM, James A. Landau wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "douche" vs. "douche-bag"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> My daughter (who is 17) referred to a male acquaintance as a "douche".
>  This
> surprised me, since I am acquainted with the term "douche-bag" as a
> derogatory
> term for a male whom one holds in contempt, but not with any slang use
> of the
> term "douche" without the suffix "bag."

Does your daughter know the literal meaning of "douche [bag]"? I was 17
back in 1954 and even then I didn't know or care [I really wish there
was some way to block the rising tide shifting this type of phrase to
"didn't know *nor* care"] what a douche bag actually was (in my family,
this apparatus was always referred to as a "hot-water bottle"), though
I did know that it was insulting to refer to someone that way. Anyway,
what I'm getting at is that, if the kid isn't hip to the literal
meaning, what would prevent her from arbitrarily deleting "bag" from a
phrase whose only real meaning is simply "an insult"?

-Wilson Gray

>
> This term (or these two terms) is likely to be more widespread than
> usual
> through November, judging by the existence of the Web site www.
> johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com
> (a site I recommend only for the connoisseur of political correctness
> and/or
> incorrectness).
>
> "John Kerry is a douche bag"   717 GOOGLE hits
> same phrase without the word "bag"  91 GOOGLE hits
> "George Bush is a douche bag"   7 GOOGLE hits
> "George Bush is a douche"         2 GOOGLE hits
>
> which proves (as if anyone doubted) that the Kerry supporters and the
> Bush
> supporters don't speak the same language.
>
>              - James A. Landau
>