this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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Low Effort Memes

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 4 days ago (4 children)

That word existing isn't proof of that.

Also, ask a random selection of people who call other pussies what they mean by it. I can guarantee you that the mayority is referring to the body part. Which makes this stupid.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I never thought of the body part when calling someone a pussy. Anecdotal, but still.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago

I was always thought about it was cats because they're scared and shit. But holy fuck, never fuck with a cat that hates your guts and wants nothing to do with you.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (3 children)

You think when people call someone a "pussy" as a pejorative they are calling them a vagina? Like literally? That's ludicrous.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Almost like calling someone a dick.

Curses and insults often include sexual characteristics and actions. And also bodily fluids, animals, diseases and blasphemy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

But like, when calling someone a dick, you think of a penis?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Arguably they are a scaredy cat

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Not literally, figuratively.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That word existing isn't proof of that.

It IS a rather odd coincidence, then.

[–] Revan343 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It is a coincidence, but it's an interesting one.

Pusillanimis comes from the Latin pusillus.

Pussy comes from Germanic puss, as in cat; both the insulting sense of the word and the slang for vagina

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

My understanding is Germanic Puss (as in cat) comes from the sound a cat makes when hissing, and over time "Pussy" means someone who is scared/angry

Thus the term "Scaredy-cat" as well.

My understanding is calling someone a pussy is literally just a more vulgar version of scaredy-cat, not a woman's vagina.

And calling someone a cat as a derogatory term way predates it as a term for vagina.

It's why we have words like "catty", in the 1600s "Puss" was a term for (primarily a woman) who was acting very sour / mean (like a cat)

Pussy as a term for a vagina came way after, when "Puss" started to become a term of endearment (and now we cringe at someone calling their SO "Kitten"), and then further on to become sexual in meaning.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I'm not an ethymologist, but I remember looking around when this last came up, and while there weren't really any fully authoritative sources, the consensus seemed to be that the insult referred to the body part, and the existence of an old-timey word that sounded similar was a fun coincidence.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I generally mean it as someone scared to go the fucking speed limit in the left lane.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The left lane is for passing. If you're passing you're using it correctly regardless of how fast you are going.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They aren't, that's why they're pussies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm just sick of people mistaking it for a "fast lane". It's not, it's for passing. You pass and you get back into the travel lane. Unless you live in Connecticut which has a plague of left exits but that's a different issue

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

It's not the passing lane if there is three lanes here in Michigan, by law or custom.