THE V.F. BAD-STYLE GUIDE

Being a Guide to Words and Phrases Otherwise Banned from This Magazine

DAVID KAMP

Rhetoric, to certain unpleasant persons, is a powdered instant-out rage mix that simply requires the addition of one activating ingredient: the suffix -shaming. Just stir it in, and kaboom!

"Can we not laugh at the Doge meme? It's a cruel xenophobic exercise . inE.S.L-shaming.'

You don't care about Chris Christie's politics— you 're just interested in fat-shaming him! "

The trouble with -shaming is that its users are overly besotted with its supposed power; they consider it an unanswerable J'accuse! whose mere deployment ends any argument in their favor. They are, naturally, wrong, and really ought to get over themselves.

THE SHAMEFULNESS OF "-SHAMING"

BANNED PRESENT PARTICIPLE:

-shaming (in all its incarnations)

Using the -shaming formulation makes you sound like: (1) the insufferable undergraduate at the Thanksgiving table; (2) the strident parent who won't let the nighttime panel discussion at the school end* or (3) the Jezebel commenter " who ruins the fun of the Finally, there's the comments thread. needless demonization of shame itself—the shameshaming, if you will. Shame, in this selhe-beforethe-mirror age, is something that most of us could do with a _ bit more of. _

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