My friend Cathy calls 'em “firecrackers.”
In Sanskrit/Hindi, the expression for it is pushpa, meaning ‘flower’. A woman on her period is called pushpavati, ‘flower lady’. Likewise, in Tamil they call it pû meaning ‘flower’.
I think’s probably an English thing, but me and all my friends simply say “I’m on”. Not on anything in particular, just on.
That is so weird. I’ve always used the term “George is in town”. What are the odds that two strangers would use the same odd term.
(btw, I think I picked it up from some friends when I was stationed in Korea)
Where were your friends from, Theios? My husband picked it up from the women he worked with in Michigan. When he started working in North Carolina, he found that the women there said it, too. He thought it was an American thing (he’s not from here), so he was surprised when I looked at him like he was insane the first time he said it.
(My husband, by the way, always seems to be in an office full of women. For a man without sisters, he’s unbelievably empathetic towards women with PMS.)
I know younger women prefer to call it ‘On the Rag’. I recall that Ann landers once called it ‘she fell off the roof’ but have never found anyone to verify that one, it must be really old.
C3,
Hell, that was so long ago. I have no idea where those gals were from. But I do seem to remember that one of them was from N. Carolina. ::shrug::
I usually just call it “that time of the month” or “my difficult time of the month” or “my monthly nuisance.”
Sometimes I call it “chocolate time” because I crave chocolate more than usual at that time of the month.
I never called it much of anything, but my husband used to call it, OH GODDAMMIT!
At least that’s what he always said when I would say, Uh…you can forget whatever it was you were thinking of doing for the next seven to twelve days.
But those days are thankfully GONE. I had a hysterectomy (not a complete one; just my uterus removed) five years ago, so now the “Oh Goddammit” days are history.
(insert teeny little happy dance here)
Of course, he can still frickin’ fergit it… 