Disputation and The Straight Dope Message Board

[thorny_locust]

@thorny_locust

“Hysterical” in the sense of ‘that person is hysterically funny’ may be applied to any gender. The “hysteria” itself is, in that sense, being applied to the speaker and not to the comedian; it means that the comedian is so funny that the speaker laughs in an out-of-control fashion.

“Hysterical” in the sense of ‘that person is just getting hysterical over that issue and therefore their opinion ought to be ignored’ is, IME, a gendered insult. Men are rarely accused of getting hysterical in that sense.

There’s got to be a Somebody’s Law that covers this one. If not, I’m going to claim it.

Broomstick just used “hysterical” in the second sense about a man, over in a different thread. Good thing that at least I said “rarely”, not “never.”

@Broomstick

I once had an on-line encounter with someone who had a serious meltdown over people calling a mashed potato topped casserole variant made with ground beef shepherd’s pie. NO NO NO ONLY GROUND LAMB CAN BE CALLED SHEPHERD’S PIE was how the rant started and it only got hysterical and incoherent from there.

It would have been entertaining if he wasn’t entirely drop-dead serious. Amazing how worked up people can get about food other people are eating.