Panty-Waist Christians

In the South, Christians endure countless pulpit-tantrums against "panty-waist Christians" -- a term intended to implicate as cowards any believer who does not shove doctrine down the world's collective throat.

I am not a coward, but I do wear panties, and because I am not a coward, I am not ashamed to say that I wear panties.  In fact, I want the pulpit-thumping preachers of the South to know:  I am a panty-waist Christian!

And I am not alone.  According to a study by the Barna Group, panties are worn by:

• Most church-goers
• Most "born again" Christians
• Most prayer warriors
• Most of the "deeply spiritual"

http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=21

So get a grip, preachers of the South -- it's panty-wearing Christians who write your paycheck. Historically, the baddest, boldest missionaries the world has known, were panty-waist Christians, too.   We're tired of the subtle and not-so-subtle gender slams. We're weary of the implication that anything weak or lacking is somehow feminine -- when in fact it is women who have been the backbone and the strength of the Church from the very beginning. 

J.

Comments

[Pat Gundry]

You got me curious about the origins of the term "pantywaist," so I had to go look it up. Here's what it said on The Maven's Word of the Day site:

"The original sense, though, referred to an article of clothing for children. This pantywaist was an undergarment consisting of short pants and a shirt that buttoned together at the waist. By metonymy, this children's garment was applied disparagingly to an older male who would never normally wear one."

And, further down the page it says:

"The literal use of pantywaist as an item of clothing dates from the 1920s. The 'sissy' sense is first recorded in the mid-1930s and became common rather quickly."

Maybe the preacher meant it as disparaging to women, or maybe he's just way behind the times.

My father-in-law, a fundamentalist preacher, would sometimes use the term "weak sister," as a derisive term for those who did not stand up to opposition or didn't do whatever he was urging.

[abra]

That's interesting, Pat! I love word history. Unfortunately, the preacher I have in mind is not much of a reader, so I doubt he is aware of the history of the term pantywaist, and he frequently uses feminine terminology as a means of insult.

However, we'll give the benefit of the doubt to the bevy of Southern preachers who use this term, who this boy is obviously parroting.

J.

I Just read your definition of panty waist. I liked it. We have always used the word when someone was acting like a coward or acting afraid of something that was not necessarily frighting.I called my pre-teen grandaughters it when they were acting silly over something. They had never heard the word and thought it was funny. The word panywaist isn't used to much any more. I guess just out of date but I like the word.

[jay]

panty waist may have been the "original" usage and have referred to undergarments BUT modern use of the term as an insult has evolved to panty WASTE meaning you are about as useless as the fluid found in a pair of panties.