OPINION: Name-calling not endearing

Nicole Stormann

Oh, how I remember the days of old when only mortal enemies and girls on trashy reality television called each other sluts and dirty whores.

Not anymore though, no, in today’s society it has become acceptable and fun for girls to refer to each other as whatever expletives pop into these women’s creative, conniving minds. It doesn’t matter if I’m walking down the hall to class or through the mall, it seems that lately everywhere I turn I hear girls calling their friends whores, sluts and the like. Is it just me, or maybe it’s not just the “Rock of Love” women who need some “Charm School.”

Frenemy, a blend of the words “friend” and “enemy,” might be the best word to describe this name calling craze. Coined for years now in multiple movies and TV programs such as “Mean Girls” and recently “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” frenemy is defined by UrbanDictionary.com as someone who is both friend and enemy, a relationship that is both mutually beneficial or dependent while being competitive, fraught with risk and mistrust.

I admittedly laughed all through “Mean Girls,” (I mean come on, “fugly slut?”) but there will come a time when these insulting names hit a nerve and friendships will suffer. I know a lot of girls will say they don’t care that their friends call them these names because it’s just a joke, but what’s that say about your friendship. Moreover what does that say about you?

When did terms of endearment like “buddy” and “pal” get replaced with fugly slut? Okay, so I’m exaggerating, I would never call a friend “pal” but you get my point. The truth is real friends don’t call their friends whores. Let alone how degrading and unintelligent it sounds to be saying it in the first place, you have to remember that it’s giving people who aren’t your friends the “OK” to call you that as well.

I have no groundbreaking solution except a simple call to arms. Abolish this Paris Hilton wanna-be vocabulary and treat yourself and others with class and dignity because calling each other names is so not hot.