A Plague of Pearl Clutching: How clutch the pearls became a lady blogosphere cliché.

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7. I think the phrase wouldn't be so divisive on DU

if it wasn't used in a negative manner against some females and the LGBTQ community here. It was used against the LGBTQ community over the whole Rick Warren crap and I see it constantly used against women when sexism is discussed.

So, some may argue that it's a "perfect phrase for Repubs" but more often than not, it isn't used that way on DU.

Personally, the phrase itself doesn't offend me, what offends me is the way it's used to negate what someone is saying... it's like saying your point doesn't matter and if you'd just go calm down you'd see the error of your ways.

Obviously, if a discussion has risen to the tenor that someone is telling someone else to stop clutching her pearls ('cause I don't often see it used against guys; well, unless they're gay), they've stopped having an honest discussion and just want the person they're debating with to shut up. On DU, someone can be told to stop "clutching her pearls" and get away with it but they can't say "Shut up" and get away with it. I don't know, I just see it as lazy and insulting at times.