Anal about 'anal'

[Threadworm]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed with the use of this ugly word as a shorthand for any kind of hyper-organised behaviour?

It wasn't one of Freud's finest contributions, and most of his better stuff is payed much less lip service.

And in any case, doesn't it have a lot of baggage to do with sadism?

ISWYM.

Frankly, I get annoyed by anybody thinking I'm hyper-organised [it's not meant as a compliment]. I don't think I am at all. I'm just reasonably efficient at organising myself. (Note: not my house though!)

Life is simply simpler when you alphabetise your dried herbs and spices and keep a list of the entire contents of your freezer!

Paid btw but let you off considering the time of post

I'm guessing that the juxtaposition of 'anal' and 'lip service' in my OP is what's putting people off.

I'm more bothered by 'payed'(sic) than 'anal'

[pedantic ]

I know, I know. I did think about leaving the country after that one.

ID does not have the same impact. It is neater than anus though.

Threadworm, I think people are thinking this thread is about bumsex & its associated lexicon, neither of which is very appetising imo.

Pedants' Corner is going to the dogs. I'm joining Fly Lady instead.

Oh dear. And it is actually quite an interesting piece of pedantry.

Flylady is full of anal types IorekByrnison

Oh I see - it's not really one of those "last night dh asked me to try something new but I said no it's a one way street AIBU" threads.

Yes Threadworm you are right of course. People should at least say "anally retentive" to avoid confusion. But I suppose "anal" has a double meaning of "like an anus" which is what people usually mean when the describe someone as such.

I am going to be particularly pedantic about my comment being in the proper Freudian context- this has nothing to do with anal sex whatsoever.
if I commented on "Being id about, for example, my housework" then some people would wonder what the hell I was on about..or drop in to a coma with boredom and not be interested in the superego topics proffered temptingly.
Becoming 'anal' about a matter is, as we well know, a form of shorthand for 'anally retentive' as opposed to 'anally expulsive' which we will not go into today.
Some of us are capable of using the expression fully and in the correct context.

But my point is that 'anally retentive' is a pretty daft Freudian concept, which doesn't have much currency anymore and which people who use the term 'anal' to refer to 'over-organised' don't really have any knowledge of anyway, Plus, it is ugly.

Particular would be a better choice IMO.
"I am particular about my ....fill in word of choice"
I agree that 'anal' is an ugly word in itself but jugular fills me with horrors too, as a word.
I think the overuse of 'anal' has slipped in to everyday speech like so many other words - no real thought goes into the origin of the actual word, in this instance Freud's concept but is used as a marginally shocking buzz word. Lazy speech.Text message speech.