I am astonished at the ubiquitous usage of “anal” when “Neurotic” was so commonly - and more pleasantly - used for so long. I even heard a prof from a major U. on t.v. use the term last week and he really meant “neurotic.” Simultaneously, we are assaulted with so many breaking wind events in so many places - movies, internet, t.v. - and there are places where they cannot stop talking about that Southern-most region. Even in Monica Lewinsky’s testimony, there was a most unpleasant ref. to something she did with regard to analism. Is “anal” merely a dumb and obnoxious slang term, or is something happening int he general realm of the stupidification and lumpenproletariatization of the population?
Freud claimed there was a point in childhood where we become fascinated by bowel movements and by the anus in general. He also claimed that any delay in development at this point resulted in compulsive tendencies, cleanliness, orderliness etc. Hence ‘anally retentive’.
Of course, Freud was generally full of shit (pun definitely intended 
). But the phrase, often abreviated as the OP has heard it, survives.
I don’t hear it used so much in place of neurotic, but more to describe someone who is unreasonably fussy or has an unreasonable attention to detail.
Someone who is anal about their home security might lock up the house, close the blinds, and arm the alarm when they go out on to the balcony to read a book.
My sister describes her boyfriend as being “so anal he must have been toilet trained at gunpoint”.
I’m no fan of Freud but as i remember it, the Freudian view is that as the very young child has little control over what it eats as it is feed by the parent (ie what enters it’s body through the mouth) but during potty training discovers it has control over what leaves its body - To Freud, this is a crucial stage in an individual’s relationship with the outside world.There are distinct types of personality developing - in one, the child lets it all go without much inhibition while the other personality has a tendency to not be so forthcoming ie anally retentive. In the adult this results in a controlling or inhibited personality or over attention to detail.
An old generality is that anally retentive people–people who deliberately go a long, long time without defecating–tend to be obsessive savers and that their counterparts, the anally compulsive–tend to be spendthrifts.
While I generally have little faith in Freud, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Based on my own observations, these generalities often seem to be true.
With respect to people of retentive habits, it is interesting that some of the expressions people commonly use about money could as easily apply to fecal matter: “he’s really loaded”, “yes, he made a pile”. It gives new meaning to the expression “filthy rich”. And I’d rather not picture the person who’s “rolling in it”.
Years ago I worked in an office where I sat next to a young man of especially prissy, obsessively neat demeanor named James. He was always “James”, never “Jim”, although he insisted that he didn’t care. One day some people in the office were talking about how hard kids are on toys. I thought to myself that James’ toys had never gotten scratched or dirty. A moment later he said that his nephews now had his old toy cars, and talked in a whining tone about how they were getting them scratched and dirty. He seemed to be assuming he would be getting them back.
When I met James for the first time I made a bet to myself that he used the restroom very, very infrequently. And I was right; it appeared he did not visit the men’s room during office hours for weeks at a time.
As for anal compulsives, years ago a classmate told me about her boyfriend’s peculiar obsession with using the bathroom. While he had no trouble whatever in relieving himself–and did so continually–he nevertheless was continually giving himself enemas. I asked her how he was with money. He had eight Visas, and was maxed out on all of them.
They are not the same meaning. A neurosis is “any of various mental disorders characterized by anxiety, compulsions, phobias, etc.”
“Anal” is short for anal-retentive, which was on of Freud’s five stages of manifestations of the sexual drive: i.e. Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital.
from What Is Psychology?
So colloquially, a neurotic person has various general psychological hangups, while an anal person has the specific hangup of being overly meticulous.
Sorry this post is probably repetetive, but I wrote it a half hour ago and the fucking hamsters wouldn’t let it go through, and i’ll be damned if I’m letting it go to waste.
There is “anal retentive” and “anal expressive.” Society has latched on to the former, but not the latter. I don’t know why. Here is one expert on the subject:
And that’s the Straight Dope.
The above explanation and use of “Straight Dope” does not include any endorsement, expressed or implied, by the Chicago Reader; Cecil Adams; or any person, animal, or thing using “Cecil Adams” as a pen name.
Actually, it’s ‘anal expulsive.’ Some websites have it wrong. Expulsive beats expressive hands down in a google fight.
One way to describe the difference between anal retentive and anal expulsive is “you can’t make me (defecate)” and “you can’t stop me (from defecating).”
IOW, one is into control, the other into creating chaos and disrupting other people’s control.
Peace.
I think it’s interesting that some folks who say Freud was a charlatan will nonetheless go around calling people “anal.”
Really? I don’t see any significance to that; it’s just a colloquialism. Calling someone “narcissistic” doesn’t mean you believe in Greek mythology, does it?
Ummm…Cite?
Quit being so anal…wait, what?
Outstanding! I thought the search results were a little thin. Nevertheless, the concept is still there, I hope, that “anal” could be for someone who is controlling through fastidiousness or sloppiness—so to speak. Thanks for the correction.
I know of two “anal” stages in Freud’s childhood development theory: anal-sadistische and anal-retentive. Can you provide a cite for use of the above terms by him, or by other seminal psychoanalysts? (Lacan uses “sadique-anal”).
http://www.bartleby.com/61/73/A0277300.html
http://allpsych.com/dictionary/a.html
These should be a start. Googling for “anal retentive” and “anal expulsive” does return a zillion hits. Well, about a zillion.
So, Freud didn’t use these terms, then? Or are you dismissing the question?
Hint: What’s German for “anal-expulsive”?
The OP was asking a question. If you have something to add, then it would be nice of you to do so; however, I would prefer not to play games.
Sorry about that. Just a little grumpy. I meant to say that we should play it straight in GQ, as opposed to other forums. Sorry.
Cecil Adams on How to tell if you’re anal retentive. And for good measure, Was Sigmund Freud a quack?
Well, that’s like saying “Caesar never said ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ because I know he said ‘Veni, vidi, vici.’ Can you provide a cite for that saying of Caesar?”
It’s called ‘translation.’ And ‘expulsive’ is the most common translation.
Peace.