Ha!

Reminds me of the past summer at the movie theatre. Remember? Strictly menfold–I mean EVERY damn movie was a guy film. Then “Sex and the City” came out. WELL. The menz were so shocked to see a film NOT about them that some even deliberately voted to lower its ratings on IMDB.com!

The SATC film was NOT about men?

Hedgepig, that ain’t the half of it; have you ever noticed the number of dramas that have carried plotlines where a young person reveals how they have been sexually abused and the ‘twist’ turns out to be that they are lying? When anyone who has worked in any area associated with the field of child sexual abuse knows that this almost NEVER happens in real life.

On the suffix -nazi: I think it carries the further implication that the person is being controlling or dictatorial. Because of course demanding that someone deal fairly and respectfully with women is an outrageous imposition, comperable only with fascism. That one provokes a particular knashing of teeth in me.

What was I talking about? Oh, oriented/orientated. I’ve always favoured “orientated” because I’m not American and do not wish to sound like one (not that there’s anything wrong with Americans sounding like Americans, it’s just that I’m not one so I don’t want to sound like one). The other problem with “oriented” is that it sounds as if I’m trying to become oriental, or at least trying to face east. The latter being, I believe, its original meaning, but it doesn’t seem to fit with the modern meaning of the word.

I shouldn’t have had that second coffee this morning.

Because everything not prohibitated is compulsorary.

The one that just gets on my nerves is “orientated” and I could go on about how “oriented” is a perfectly good existing word but really, it’s mostly just that it gets on my nerves.

What else gets on my nerves is people getting it wrong, especially getting me wrong. Doesn’t matter how they get me wrong; it’s just irritating. [Swat!]

I was unclear. Figurare (to shape) is, as you correctly point out, a Latin verb, but it is not one to which the –ativus suffix is appended in the original Latin (at least, I can’t find it in my dictionary). According to the OED, the construction to which I allude is uncommon in Latin, but more common in English via French words of Latin origin (in this case figurer, to appear). I would double-check this for you, but my Latin grammar is on the top shelf of my book case, and I am too lazy to haul out the ladder.

Note that every time a word is appropriated by a new language, its literal meaning changes a bit. “Having the attribute of shape” would be the inelegant translation of the non-word figurativus, but in English, figurative morphs into several pretty cool, esoteric definitions, the most common of which — “metaphorical, not literal” — is something of a whimsical departure from “having the attribute of shape.”

I could go on and on.

It also goes to what CLD said that these guys can be all passionate about Trouser Tyranny (their words) and I bet could talk about it in public without all the eye rolling dismissal stuff. The MRA’s sure seem to get plenty of sympathy for their cause from the general public. Whatever men’s issue a man wants to discuss it will never cause folks to go, oh there he goes with all that man stuff again. He must be one of those men.