I do! Only because it was in a math textbook in aa word problem. Our teacher told us what it meant and we used it all day long to the annoyance of our other teachers.
Okay, but don't let ANYBODY tell you that that is what the put-down "pussy" means.
Yes, pusillanimous does mean cowardly, as does to be a "pussy," but the derogatory slang of "don't be a pussy" is in reference to the female genitalia because society has equated femaleness with being afraid, weak, cowardly, and meek-all of which are equated to the slang term "don't be a pussy."
It's an example of how misogyny infiltrates nearly every level of our society.
No. It's not a reference to the female genitalia, it's a reference to the term pusillanimous. It's not misogynistic, it's language. Quit finding opportunities to be a victim.
the thing is, if most people say it, thinking and intending they are equating people to female genitalia, then that's the meaning. the desire and intent create more meaning than the actual words in any dialog, its why even online we attempt to formulate ways of communicating tone because how we mean what we say matters significantly more than what the dictionary says words means.
It's a perversion of the word pusillanimous, and it will be that way until you can prove otherwise. Words can have fluid definitions, and you can think it's talking about a female sex organ, but that doesn't make it so.
it literally does though, because if the words were not identical (like lets pretend its pussi and pussy) and people started to switch to pussy because they liked calling people vaginas better, the word is a different word, so if they call people pussy while intending it to be vaginas, then its vaginas, andd frankly i have strong doubt that the word was every intended in any way except vagina by any modern person and that this link to that word is just as weak as all the explanations people insist are truck for the word fuck.
Yes, pusillanimous does mean cowardly, as does to be a "pussy," but the derogatory slang of "don't be a pussy" is in reference to the female genitalia because society has equated femaleness with being afraid, weak, cowardly, and meek-all of which are equated to the slang term "don't be a pussy."
It's an example of how misogyny infiltrates nearly every level of our society.