Quote: (02-10-2013 02:35 PM)Acute Angle Wrote:
Spinster is an excellent word and its use should be expanded.
In my experience, it's pretty cutting. You have to temper it when said out loud, using either "you look like a" or "you sound like a" to blunt it somewhat for polite society. I'm not accusing you of being a spinster. I'm just saying you look or sound like one when you do that behavior.
On the other hand, when you say out of their company that someone's acting like a spinster, all the married women join in agreeing with glee. They know what it really takes to have a relationship and raise a family, and they can't stand some impostor talking know-nothing bullshit. Likewise when someone's taken a "I hate children/I hate families" stance, all you have to whisper to the married women "spinster" and the anti-breeder ranter is instantly ridiculous.
There already exist accepted variants:
spinsterhood (noun)
spinsterish (adj)
spinsterly (adj)
Some examples:
"You're starting to sound like spinster. Easy up on the negativity, cup cake."
"She's well advanced into spinsterhood. Forever Alone."
"More sour mouth and spinsterish complaining. Have you lost the ability to be happy?"
"She acts kinda spinsterly at times."
"Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta."
--Aldous Huxley, Brave New World