# "Anal retentive"?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552 "2002-08-19T04:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FIREMAN44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4af34b/32.png) [@FIREMAN44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FIREMAN44)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/1 "2002-08-19T04:27:35Z")
I have always heard this term (not directed at me!) but never knew what it meant. Now I’ve got you guys to ask! Help me! What does it mean?? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/2 "2002-08-19T04:43:11Z")
“Anal retentive” is a term used to describe a person who is too concerned with order. It comes from Freud, who believed that during the “Anal Stage,” from 18 to 36 months, where a child’s sexual energy is focused on holding and expelling feces. A child who fixated on holding feces would become “anal-retentive” and have a hoarding, or overly ordered personality. Obviously Freudian psychology isn’t used much these days, but it offers a nice thumbnail description of an individual with those personality traits. It is succinct and vivid, so it has remained with us. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/3 "2002-08-19T04:45:32Z")
I believe its a psychological term identifying a personality which needs to be neat, perfect, controlling, etc. Coined by Freud(?) as an infantile personality the child never really grows out of…as opposed to Oral Retentive, which means…uh…something else.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/4 "2002-08-19T04:48:37Z")
[The Master has spoken](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a940211.html). However, I think it’s important to consider that the way most people use the phrase might trace back to a different image: the person who is so tightly wound that he (or she) keeps his/her buttcoks tightly clenched at all times. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/5 "2002-08-19T07:59:26Z")
…anal **explosive**. 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/6 "2002-08-19T11:35:15Z")
Anal retentive - also used as a euphemism for “full of shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/7 "2002-08-19T12:29:02Z")
Hail to the “Anal Retentive” series on SNL back in the early 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![Coilean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Coilean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coilean)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-retentive/124552/8 "2002-08-19T13:06:37Z")
Quasimodem, Did I miss the joke (afterall it is Monday!) or do I have to report this to the malapropisms thread?