Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 15:13:52 -0700

From: David Robertson net091[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RISCY.SFCC.CTC.EDU

Subject: Re: Hysterical?



On Thu, 25 Apr 1996, Kathleen M. O'Neill wrote:



...the question that sparked

this inquiry is what would be the

female genitalia equivalent of "phallic"?

Is there such a thing? (A word, that is.)





I've long heard the politically hypercorrect use the term "yonic"

for this purpose, Kathleen. Specifics: Used by feminist-influenced

women around 20 years old; the "o" in the word is pronounced as the "aw"

in "lawn"; and of course the word derives from Sanskrit "yoni".



Feels good to have a term for this, I've found, but to my ear it's

also jarring to have a Sanskrit word referring to one sex and a Greek

word to the 'opposite'! If we were as motivated by symmetry as we tend

to believe, we'd've switched to a word like "lingamic", eh? Since

"hysterical" is a word with a relatively high functional load in Modern

American English.



Namaste!



Dave