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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
> Droud is interesting. I must look up its derivation. It may be too obscure to pass my editor's muster. < also, Larry Niven seems to have used droud in a completely different sense : a wire providing current directly to the pleasure center of the brain. almost all of the words in the GD come from two source books; this one seems to be from Elster's There's a Word for It!, which he lists with the given def'n and without attribution. it's not in OED or W3; but my Old and Cheap unabridged gives "a codfish [Scot.]" -- I suppose this might have been extended to a fishwife sense. anyway, I tried "oafish woman" in OneLook's reverse dictonary and got several pages worth of results.
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22 |
The Reverse Dictionary is a great source - many thanks!
Wench in its archaic sense would work, with clumsy prefixed (you clumsy wench), but the modern connotation of wench implies a frisky or sexy nature that isn't appropriate. It's those little nuances that make it so interesting, and so difficult.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270 |
Quote:
The Reverse Dictionary is a great source - many thanks!
I have to echo that statement.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I am using archaic terms. She (my character) has used oaf, dolt, lout, boor, and many other wonderful words that have slipped from common usage. But I'm suddenly in the situation where she needs to apply them to a woman.
Cow? Edit: just checked your bio, Dean; looks like 50% of your state is enrolled here now. 
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I can see the challenge. Many of the feminine insult words have gained an additional sexual meaning or mean bad tempered rather rather than graceless. Lump might work. Or besom, I think it just meant woman before turning into an insult. Hag or crone are more about looks and age.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
Quote:
Edit: just checked your bio, Dean; looks like 50% of your state is enrolled here now.
and don't forget dellfarmer, must mean 75%... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203 |
Not quite it, but slattern comes to mind.
If all else fails you might append a feminine suffix to some of these words, like loutette, doltress, and so on.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 22 |
Quote:
If all else fails you might append a feminine suffix to some of these words, like loutette, doltress, and so on.
 This is more appropriate than you realize. My character is constantly creating insults (thickwit, dungherd, steambrain). Feminizing a few insults fits right in.
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
I'd like to see "witch", "hag" and "crone" removed from the list of acceptable insults. I'm a witch - a practitioner of witchcraft - and these are all terms from the Craft. I consider using them as insults on a par with using "Jew" as a term for "cheat". That used to be acceptable and is now recognized as a slur.
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