word of the year?

[Jonathan Lighter]

It occurred to me that there was once a superstition that a woman could get
pregnant only if she, er, had, um, a certain feeling during the, ah, act.

Thus, very few actual ("legitimate") rape victims could get pregnant.

You can imagine how pleased I was to discover that I'm not crazy and  my
memory still kind of functions:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2012/aug/20/legitimate-rape-medieval-medical-concept

So Congressman Akin's remarks (based on the knowledge of "doctors") are
perfectly sensible.

To the medieval mind.

JL

On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 12:28 PM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: word of the year?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There was also Ron Paul's "honest rape."
>
>
> http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/04/ron-paul-tells-piers-morgan-only-honest-rape-merits-abortion/
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 12:02 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > Not as catchy as Whoopi Goldberg's "rape rape" (in her description of
> what
> > Roman Polanski didn't commit with the 14-year-old girl).
> >
> > On Aug 20, 2012, at 10:23 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> >
> > > On Aug 20, 2012, at 6:43 AM, David Barnhart wrote:
> > >
> > >> What was going through the speaker's mind.  Legitimate rape!?!?
> > >>
> > >> From: Hollis Barnhart [mailto:hbarnhart at highlands.com]
> > >> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 8:35 AM
> > >> To: David Barnhart
> > >> Subject: word of the year?
> > >>
> > >> worst euphemism maybe?  legitimate rape:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/legitimate-rape-and-todd-akins-myths/2012/08/20/f8c048b4-ea76-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_blog.html
> > >
> > > my guess is that he was (mentally) contrasting forcible rape ("real
> > > rape", "legitimate rape") with statutory rape.  the legal presumption
> is
> > > that sex with a minor cannot by definition be consensual and therefore
> must
> > > have been coerced, even if not forcible -- so is rape (labeled in
> various
> > > ways in different jurisdictions, but known informally as "statutory
> rape").
> > > but people recognize that the legal minor in these cases often enters
> > > willingly into the sexual relations (and most people are uncomfortable
> with
> > > the idea that a specific date makes the difference between rape and
> > > consensual sex).
> > >
> > > if that's what Akin meant, then of course he should have said so,
> rather
> > > than merely saying he mis-spoke (if he mis-spoke, what did he *intend*
> to
> > > say instead?).  but then he would be exposing an attitude that might
> well be
> > > unpopular with a significant portion of the electorate.
> > >
> > > the other problem with his original statement is his expressed belief
> > > that forcible rape doesn't make women pregnant, because their bodies --
> > > somehow, magically --prevent conception.  he is simply wrong about
> that as a
> > > matter of science, and it's a really ugly idea.  the only way for Akin
> to
> > > fix that would be for him to admit that he was wrong ("mis-speaking"
> doesn't
> > > begin to cover the case), but i fear he's convinced of the truth of
> this
> > > myth, though he realizes that it would be impolitic to admit that.  so
> his
> > > follow-up statement disregards the issue entirely, in favor of
> apparently
> > > supportive platitudes.
> > >
> > > really, a remarkable performance.
> > >
>
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