Talk:anal-retentive
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Surely this is wrong. I think it has to do with retaining elements of what Frued described as the ANAL stage of development. Can someone please investigate this?
- I thought it was a way of saying "full of shit". RJFJR 13:36, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
- In American usage, it is usually applied to someone who is overly obsessive concerning small details or who is compulsively fastidious. I’ve never heard it used to mean "full of shit". Yes, it comes from Freud’s writings, but the popular sense is certainly different from the technical meaning that psychoanalysts use. Most people (me included) don’t know the technical meaning. See w:Anal retentive#Common usage. —Stephen 14:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
- Agreed. It's the same in Australia. We just use it to mean pedantic or to describe someone who is a bit of a Nazi. Tooironic 23:57, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
- In American usage, it is usually applied to someone who is overly obsessive concerning small details or who is compulsively fastidious. I’ve never heard it used to mean "full of shit". Yes, it comes from Freud’s writings, but the popular sense is certainly different from the technical meaning that psychoanalysts use. Most people (me included) don’t know the technical meaning. See w:Anal retentive#Common usage. —Stephen 14:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)