What is it, I hear you gasp?
There's no easy way to say this, so I'll jump right in: I really really hate the phrase making love.
Actually, I don't merely hate it, it makes me retch. If Mr T ever uses the phrase, I will mime throwing up and say Ugh, don't use that phrase! It is a completely visceral reaction to the spoken words. I can just about cope with reading it, though I do roll my eyes. Particularly when I'm assured that This wasn't sex, This was making love...
It is actually in my novel though.
I am totally fine with the phrase in the old sense of flirtation and mild seduction so that when you read that Arthur spent the whole afternoon making love to Catherine, it merely means that he was paying her lots of attention and perhaps stealing a few kisses, rather than doing her over the pianoforte.
What about you? Are there any perfectly ordinary everyday phrases that set your teeth on edge?
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12 comments:
Bumping uglies is a phrase I can't stand. ugh.
I take issue with the term "dirty pillows". Why is it that a woman's breasts are inherently dirty, or rather, why is it dirty for one to rest his or her head on them? Besides, we wash them, so they aren't literally filthy.
Why can't they be "lovely pillows", "the best pillows", or why must they be pillows at all? Truly, the expression upsets me...
I hate "making love" as a euphemism for sexual activity too. It makes me cringe every time I read or hear it. It always sounds false and sickly sweet.
While I don't know how ordinary or "every day" it is (I myself have only seen it used on the internet), I absolutely cannot stand the term "hot mess". I instantly lose a little bit of respect for anyone who uses it and find myself less interested in what they have to say. I can't help it-it's just an intense and irrational feeling of revulsion at what strikes me as a remarkably stupid and ugly phrase.
Also "smexy". I loathe smexy. I gag a little every time I read it (thankfully, no one I know actually uses it in conversation).
I only hate it when the term is used to sugar coat what they're actually doing... you know when they say let's make love and they really mean they want to have sweaty unfeeling sex with a stranger. Bleck.
Also I love my word verification - it looks like a combination of shine and angst lol - it's shingst!
"A dance as old as time."
*shudder shudder*
*retch*
Me too! I don't think I necessarily mind it in every variation, but I gag whenever a heroine says, "please make love to me." And I hate when my husband uses it. -- willaful
KB/W'for - I'm much more comfortable with the funny stuff actually. Never heard of Dirty Pillows, though 'funbags' simultaneously makes me laugh and grimace.
Marie-Therese - glad to find a likeminded person. Hot Mess is also new to me. An odd one. I'll ponder it. Smexy, I hear all the time and assume it's a conflation - but of what? Smelly and sexy?
Keira- I think that's what I hate about 'making love' though - the sort of hushed-tone of it. I'm fully in favour of sex with someone you love being referred to in an, um, earthier way. Actually, my preferred term is 'sex'.
Vic - YES!!! Good one. EVERY single time I read that, I have do a little retchy mime.
Willaful - YES! Both of those things. *gagging*
Well, hey, it's a sight better than saying "let's do the dirty" or "how about some hump time." And it does function to make a distinction. And,like Jackie Gleason--How sweet it is!
Don't think I've ever heard the term "dirty pillows." They do function as pillows at times, but only delightfully not dirtily.
dick
I used to dislike making love (the phrase) but now I've embraced it. In writing, anyway. I probably wouldn't say it out loud. In real life I use frank language.
I recently read a really porny story with other "love" phrases like love channel, love cream, love sheathe. I don't know why but it turned me off so much. Maybe because love was getting crammed in there for no reason.
Joanna, I think "smexy" is a fusion of smut or smutty and sexy. I'm not positive about that, though.
dick - not for me *wrinkles nose*
Jill - good call
M-T - frankly, I'm disappointed. I preferred my version ;-)
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