douche bag (plural douche bags)
1. A bag for holding the water or fluid used in douching.
2. (vulgar, pejorative) A worthless person.
meme (plural memes)
1. (philosophy) Any unit of cultural information, such
as a practice or idea, that is transmitted
verbally or by repeated action from one
mind to another. Examples include thoughts,
ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs,
dances and moods and terms such as race,
culture, and ethnicity.
2. (philosophy) A self-propagating unit of cultural evolution
having a resemblance to the gene (the unit of
genetics).
About 3 or 4 years ago I started using the word “douche bag” again. I don’t know where I picked it up, but I bet it was part of a meme. The term was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. As stated above, a meme is similar gene in that it transmits information to a biological entity, namely a portion of the human race. Fads could be seen as memes, especially true fads that start organically.
One night I was apparently dreaming and talking in my sleep, which was keeping my wife up. She shook me to try to wake me up and apparently I called her a douche bag. From then on we have been using the term. I remember using the term in the 80s when it was popular, but could not recall having heard the word since then. But I subconsciously picked it up somewhere. I had been affected by a meme.
Douche bag is now making it into mainstream usage. I have heard it used on a couple of television shows including How I Met You Mother, which is famous for popularizing terms (see: cougar). It has gotten to the point where we have decide that the term needs to evolve. We now use “d-bag” or just “douche”. “Douchebaggery” has also become popular in my house and I am trying to popularize it amongst my friends.
Perhaps “rad” will make a comeback. Its a great word and the title of a wonderful movie.
