Don’t be disingenuous – “expulsive” is no more a translation for “sadistische” than “frog” is a translation for “Français.” The term “anal-expulsive” must have an origin (i.e., someone who thought it expressed the concept better than “sadistic”), and I’m willing to bet that it isn’t Freud, so where did it come from? I’ve read the slightly more accurate “anal-aggressive” in discussions of Freud, but I don’t know enough about Freud, German, or psychoanalysis to find the sources that I’m looking for. Some of the secondary sources I’ve found indicate that Freud’s childhood stages are actually five: “1 - 9 mo. Oral-Inkorporative Phase; 6 - 12 mo: Oral- Sadistische Phase; 9 - 15 mo: Anal-Sadistische Phase; 12 - 18 mo: Anal-Retentive Phase; 17 - 60 mo: Phallische (genitale oder ödipale) Phase.” That doesn’t make this any less confusing.
Mythology is not involved. It gives the impression of a knowledge of psychology and even a dispassionate appraisal, neither necessarily true.
As for “anal”, I think it’s fair to say it’s a pseudo-intellectual putdown, just shorthand for “over-obsessive and full of shit” while still sounding relatively polite on the surface.
“Compulsive” might be a better choice than “neurotic”, but I haven’t thought that one out all that thoroughly before jumping to that conclusion (though I did edit my original thought from “obsessive” after a moment’s reflection).
Had a boss tell me I was “anal” once (meaning that I, as his bookkeeper, pay attention to detail) - I gave him the “EXCUSE me?” look, and he rephrased it. I think the word does not belong in polite (or business) conversation.
First of all, I wasn’t being disingenuous. It’s not uncommon for a word used in a technical, cultural-centric, or idiomatic sense to be translated into another language by using a word which is not its immediate cognate. The way Freud uses the German word ‘sadistische’ may not mean what ‘sadistic’ means in English. In these cases, translators use a better sense word.
By doing a Google search using the terms: +expulsive +sadique
and using: +expulsive +sadistische
I found French and German documents where ‘expulsive’ and ‘sadique’ or ‘sadistische’ were used interchangeably. Since I speak neither language, I ran them through Google’s translators.
From what I could figure out with these awful translations (remember, they’re technical psychological texts… not the best candidates for a web translation), I’m guessing that Freud used ‘anal sadistische’ to describe the phase of development and ‘anal expulsive’ (or ‘aggressive’) to describe the personality of someone stuck in that phase of development. English translators and Freudians seem to abandon that distinction and call the phase and the personality ‘anal retentive.’
Peace.