Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Bodies

I've been noticing a very annoying new usage, wandering in from the academic world, of referring to people as bodies. Live people. In all apparent seriousness. I have the vague idea this comes from Foucault, a French guy I haven't really read.

I mean, I might say "the room was packed with warm bodies". But that's being funny.

Here's a standout example:

"Many infertile bodies are bodies who, like Miller and myself, delayed childbearing..."

I assume it is intended to be jarring, to refer to oneself that way, some kind of in-your-face materialism.

I assume also that it is insider lingo to those in the know.

I think there's something cloddy
About calling a person a body.

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