bastage

reesetee Sionnach, I didn't think you meant any offense. It's just not a particularly pleasant term in my mind (Pink Flamingos or no). :-) Jul 22, 2008

jennarenn Ha! Teachers use the term FLK. I didn't realize that other folks understood us. :) Jul 22, 2008

sionnach c_b: "Pink Flamingoes" defies description. Let me just say that it wasn't even the coprophagic transvestite (Divine) who was most disturbing. No, no, no. Edie the egg-lady was infinitely more troubling.

BTW, I think the word for bastard cabbage is 'choutard'. Not that anyone asked. Jul 22, 2008

chained_bear Not a big deal, sionnach. I figured (and apparently so did reesetee) that you didn't mean to offend anyone.

"Unexplained Beer Injury" is one I've heard before, and love deeply. I hope you add it.

I've never seen "Pink Flamingoes." I probably can't--knowing that I'm faint of heart!--but I like hearing about these things so I can pretend to know what I'm talking about at clever cocktail parties. Of which I attend, per annum, exactly zero. Jul 22, 2008

sionnach Well, dang it! There goes my attempt to argue that it's a mainstream term, and not particularly offensive. Damned by its mere association with Pink Flamingoes, one of the more disturbing films I've seen in my life. The friend I persuaded to go with me refused ever to go to the movies with me again. I understood his point.

Thanks, John! Jul 22, 2008

john "Turkey baster baby" comes from the John Water's classic Pink Flamingos. It's about a competition for the title "filthiest person alive," and it goes to such fantastic extremes in depicting filth that it is has to be, even 35 years later, a strong contender for Most Offensive Movie Ever. I saw it by accident when I was 15 and haven't been the same since. It's no Hairspray. I recommend it, but it's not for the faint of heart.

Though in the movie, it wasn't the lesbians who were impregnated. It was the kidnapped teenage hitchikers; the lesbians bought the resulting babies. Jul 22, 2008

sionnach If it appears that I've been mocking anyone, I apologize. But I don't feel that I was. I've seen the term 'turkey baster baby' reasonably often in the gay weekly papers here in SF, used without any obvious offensive intent.

And, yes, the incongruity of the term tickles my funny bone - why wouldn't it? So do many of the macabre terms that doctors and emergency room staff use when referring to patients (FLK - 'funny looking kid', UBI - 'unexplained beer injury' and the like). Which is probably insensitive, but I know that my sister uses these terms, and she's one of the best doctors I know.

The Newsweek article suggests (to me, at any rate) that the term is not so far out of the mainstream to be considered offensive. I'd hope people would understand that making fun of people who have difficulty conceiving is not something I engage in, here or anywhere else. Jul 22, 2008

chained_bear There are also women WITH male mates who conceive using artificial insemination methods. Jul 21, 2008

reesetee I agree with you, c_b. I don't find it very amusing either, which is why I questioned sionnach. S, it's not that I haven't heard of it; it's that I have a hard time believing this is how people think most lesbians and/or women without male mates conceive. Jul 21, 2008

missanthropist Re: 'bastage speculatum'.

Ugh... what a frivolous act of strung~along syllables That site was. Would that I were paid for the gibberish I spew as well.
Well established as a concept= 'maybe, baby'. not buying the baster yet, if you get my drift. Jul 21, 2008

chained_bear It's not an actual turkey baster. I'm not finding it all that funny to mock women, whether lesbian or hetero, who need to use medical procedures to conceive. I know it sounds peevish of me to object to what is surely meant to be a lighthearted and funny page, but I figured after a week or so it's time to speak up. Jul 21, 2008

sionnach Absolutely not. As far as I am aware, it is a well-established method of insemination:

turkey baster baby Jul 21, 2008

reesetee Sionnach: Tell me your tongue is firmly implanted in cheek. I mean, turkey basters?

Mercy: Fastidious indeed. :-)

Bilby: Milkweed. Jul 21, 2008

bilby Pineapple slice. Jul 13, 2008

sionnach I can't tell if bilby is agreeing with me or mocking me. But that's nothing new. Jul 13, 2008

bilby ste <-- stage Jul 13, 2008

sionnach It's always been my impression that no lesbian can become inseminated (impregnated? fertilized? just what am I trying to say here?) without serious turkey baster involvement. But maybe this is urban legend. Jul 13, 2008

mercy Hmm, makes sense put that way, but baste is also a temporary, messy stitch. Combine that with impregnation and I think most women would pass. Jul 13, 2008

sionnach waste --> wastage
baste --> bastage

Jul 13, 2008

mercy I can't see lesbians having much to do with bastages. They're a tad more fastidious than that.

Actually, now it brings to mind bastard Cabbage Patch Kids. Jul 13, 2008

sionnach I have to disagree that this has anything to do with cabbage. It is the word for a crucial stage in lesbian parenting.

usage example: "A lot of bastage was needed to consummate the Crosby-Etheridge fertilization". Jul 13, 2008

mercy Maybe you can make one up for him. : ) This one's pretty popular out here in California. (Maybe other parts of the US, as well.) Jul 13, 2008

missanthropist There ought to be a French counterpart to this one ;) as I know a most deserving character whom would delight in it as though it were his own namesake, were he to hear of it! Jul 13, 2008

mercy Bastard cabbage. Jul 13, 2008

mercy Okay, not really. Just a bastard. Not sure where it came from, but I didn't make it up myself. Jul 13, 2008