Where does the expression anal retentive come from, anyway? Who coined the phrase? Are there any other body functions used to describe personalities within the field of psychology ? Within the field of psychology. No need to let your imaginations run amok, now…
Juba
May 12, 2003, 7:43am
2
Anal retentiveness is an elaboration of Freud’s ideas on anality, first published in 1908. Freud wrote that people with “anal character” were meticulous, parsimonious, and obstinate. Though it’s not clear who first used the term “anal retentive,” in 1924 a student of Freud’s named Karl Abraham distinguished A-Rness from anal expulsiveness. The latter is pretty much what it sounds like, the predisposition to make a mess, while parsimony and obstinacy are thought to be A-R traits. Meticulousness, the third of Freud’s three anal characteristics, is thought to be a reaction against anal expulsiveness.
Click here for more.
Actually, that does sound like me.
How about hysteria :
From Latin hystericus , hysterical, from Greek husterikos , from huster , womb (from the former idea that disturbances in the womb caused hysteria).
