I wonder why so many women seem to be so fond of the noun Hag? It has always been a name I associate with ghastly, very old and quite ugly women but it has come into vogue as an acceptable descriptive of “old woman”. It’s not.
I know it’s fashionable in some circles to reclaim words like ‘hag’ – usually somewhere between California and a drum circle – but let’s not pretend it ever sounded like a compliment
The Dictionary on Hag
I see so much of this dreadful word I decided to check its meaning (I could be wrong!), and this is what I came up with from the OED:
crone · old woman. beldam · ugly · woman ; harpy · a shrewish woman. Xanthippe · nag · shrew ; harridan · nagger. crone · shrew · strumpet
Same in all dictionaries!
These days it has a more prominent pop-cultural presence in American feminist and witchy circles. In the UK and Australia, hag still carries quite a sharp sting and is rarely used positively outside of irony or folklore.
No no no no no – hag is not for us.
Personally, I don’t fancy being called any of those (woman works)! I think older or mature woman is okay but, alas it really doesn’t have a ‘ring’ … the word Hag has a ring but it’s nothing like the ring you’d like it to have.
Some pleasant descriptors available to us:
□ Sage,
□ Enlightened,
□ Discerning,
□ thoughtful,
□ perceptive.
It’s a long list (google it sometime), but my personal favourite is now SOPHIC! Why? Because sophic (from the greek) is an adjective meaning relating to, or of wisdom, or to be skilled or clever. It can also be interpreted as intellectual. Surely, SOPHIC fits the bill?
The only alternative as far as I’m concerned is QUEENAGER, which feels a little pre-school to me.
Over to you, darling readers…
What do you want to be called? Crone? Queen? Goddess? Gloriously-Unbothered-Woman-of-a-Certain-Age?
And while we’re at it – hag… yay or absolutely-not-in-this-lifetime?
Pop your thoughts in the comments – let’s rename ourselves with flair, not folklore.
