Steven Brust on "squick"

[yendi]

Whenever I've either heard or used the term, it has been related to an
activity that is sexual to at least some people. On the other hand, I'm
having trouble coming up with an actifity that isn't sexual to at least
some people.

The reason I like the term, however, is that it doesn't, so far as I know,
mean, "that disgusts me." It more means, "I don't care for that." In
other words, it is a way to say, "I have no interest in that activity,"
without saying, "ICK. YUCK! YOU MUST BE *SICK*." This is especially
important if the latter is what you're actually thinking.

I believe Miss Manners would thoroughly approve of the term.

Comments

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

But but but, really, it is sick. Way sick. Truly. And this is coming from me.

[yendi]

Umm. What? Steve was talking about using the term "squick" to represent something he doesn't like (something I also do, which is why I posted). Am I missing something?

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I thought "squick" was a portmanteau word that combined squeamish and icky, and that is the meaning it seems to have when it's used. Then I googled it, at the suggestion of tanaise and got really grossed out.

I think the word "squick" needs to be reclaimed with the squeamish/icky/Steven Brust meaning. Look how the meaning of the word "gay" has changed through the years...just the first example of word meaning change that comes to mind.

I'm sure we could come up with many more...

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=squick

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I respect the man, love his books, he's totally wrong. Squick originated back in the heyday of alt.sex.bondage, reportedly from the infamous STella. It's not a mild happy word, it is the direct opposite of that, intended to indicate a hard limit. I don't like lima beans, but I can eat them. They aren't a squick. Beets turn my stomache, if you put one in my mouth I spit it back out, I won't eat food they have touched, beets, squick me, deep down.

Squick as an adjective is more similar to disgust than dislike. Squick is a visceral revulsion, a major turn off, but, importantly, it implies mo moral judgement. Squick is a personal reaction, not a general judgement. It is usually used as a noun, as in "Bestiality is a major squick for me." although you could say "Bestiality makes me feel squicky".

Squick as a verb means either to do something that gives someone that feeling, or to pop someone's eye out and fuck their skull, the word comes from the sort of squishing sound the brains would make....

[yendi]

I'm not sure "totally wrong" applies, though. When words or terms orginate in any subcommunity, they may eventually migrate out and take on other meanings. Although I don't think he's saying that it's a happy word -- I think he'd use squick to talk about beets as well. It just isn't as severe for him. And that's how the term has started to evolve -- it's certainly how I first encountered it, and it's how it's migrated into mainstream speech (or pseudo-mainstream -- I suspect it's really only migrated into communities -- fandom, goth -- that overlap significantly with bdsm).

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

He's saying it's a mild dislike, and the whole point of the word is that it's not mild, it's extreme. It's fine for a word to migrate in meaning, but when it migrates to the point of generating lots of confusion, that's not good.

Old Skool Joe "No, I don't want a beet salad, beets squick me"
New Wave Dave "Just try it, you might like it"

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. That's how I learned the term. It is most definitely not a mild word.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Agreed.