I came upon the word "pusillanimous" in the lyrics of a Rutles song. I looked it up and found out it meant "cowardly." It then occured to me that the "p" word, when used as an insult, is probably a variation of "pusillanimous." I mean it fits. After all, what is particularly insulting about calling someone a cat or female genitalia? However, call me a coward and get ready to see how I roll.Seriously though, so I looked the "p" word up on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. It lists the origins of the word for all of its meanings but none seemed to fit as well as "pusillanimous." Noting the hole in the encyclopedia I was compelled to fill it. Click here to see the entry (note: there aren't any pictures of genitalia. If you want that, as I imagine you already know, it's only too easy to find.)
What's interesting about my theory (I say my theory although I find a few mentions on other pages to the same effect) is that I found a lot of pages with people calling other people "pusillanimous pu**ies." What's the opposite of a contradiction of terms? Maybe an agreement of terms? Anyway, calling someone a cowardly coward is a little ridiculous to me. Perhaps it's a double negative meaning heroic? Probably not. But maybe I've started the ball rolling on a greater understanding of the entymology of the "p" word as an insult.
One can only hope.
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