Mark A Mandel <mam at theworld.com> writes: > On Mon, 25 Nov 2002, Matthew Hunter wrote: > > #> At 12:02 11/25/2002 -0500, Casey Rousseau wrote: > #> Donaldson just turns on my squick sensor. > # ^^^^^^ > # > #You keep using this word. I do not think it means what you think > #it means. > > As a matter of fact, the people I know who actually use that word, and > from whose use I learned it, use it in a way very close to Casey's use, > which the definition on that website (which I have seen before) has > almost nothing to do with. > > To the best of my knowledge, "squick", in the usage of people who USE > the word, as opposed to inventing oddball definitions for words they > don't use (cf. _The Meaning of Liff_, Douglas Adams & somebody else), is > an experiencer-as-object verb meaning approximately 'disgust, nauseate; > turn off or repel (i.e., cause [someone] to feel turned off or > repelled]'. > > By "experiencer-as-object" I mean that the syntax is like that of > "disgust" rather than "hate": > That squicks me. GRAMMATICAL > That disgusts me. " > I hate that. " > I squick that. UNGRAMMATICAL > > Its original sense *may* have been restricted to sexual practices and > related subjects: > > 1. made-up example: > You can do that with your other friends if you like, but not > with me. It squicks me. > > 2. real example: > KNOCK KNOCK > (voices from inside): > Who is it? > And are they squicked by nudity? > (voice from peephole): > Oh, it's [name]. > (visitor): > No, it doesn't squick me. > > The word is also used in contexts without sexual reference, which *may* > be an expansion of its domain. Your definition includes "turn off", which is sexual. And your real example involves nudity, which to essentially everybody in the US is sexual. I think the sexual connection is pretty basic. I agree that the word may be starting to grow beyond that maybe. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/ John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info