So what’s the etymology of “frau”?

OP types stupid, poor, lazy and probably obese too.

Seriously, OP?

I’m just too young I guess? (:

R1 I obviously know that definition. It clearly does not mean that here. Can you read, dear? Go over my post again... slowly this time

Hi, postimg troll at R1.

#2 Covers a lot of ground.

Fag, faggot, faggier, faggiest. Fags.

It means CUNT in a poorly attested low German dialect.

R7 That’s not how you conjugate.

I conjugate my way frau fag @ R9.

I started a new job recently, and I forgot how fraus don’t know how to stay quiet more than 2 minutes and talk incessantly about stupid shit ALL day long.

^thats right. Move to a male dominated position like I did.

Do readers make additions or edits of Urban Dictionary? One of you bitches must have recently put in the second definition of "frau" at R6.

R13 It is dated April 10, 2007, thirteen years ago.

I'm always called a frau, even though I'm a man.

It was around in the 1990s already, though I'm blanking on where I heard it. In an Augusten Burroughs book, maybe? Definitely on Usenet, I thought alt.gossip.royalty but I couldn't find anything when I searched. It was in use before the earliest Urban Dictionary definitions that are dated 2003.

The Slang Dictionary by John Camden Hotten lists "frow" as an old Gypsy slang term from the 1700s.

OK. So a DLer put in that definition in 2007, instead of now.

The earliest use I can find of "frau" in Datalounge is in 2006, but its appearance preceded that.

Etymologically, it is an abbreviation in form of "Hausfrau," which as you know, OP, literally means "house mrs." or "housewife" in German.

Its first appearance in English was in 1798. (Honestly.)

However, in its German form it took on a sense of a stay-at-home woman raising her children and being clueless and ignorantly opinionated, usually in the direction of "You ought to....", "Can't you be nice," and "That's not how we do things."

Today, this derogatory sense is understood both in Germany and the US. Its current negative meaning took firm hold with the Women's Liberation Movement, often used by women against women who were seen as holding their sex back. This meaning was readily adopted by gay men (who likely were using it prior to Women's Lib, trendsetters for female objectification, good and bad, historically).

At the DL "Hausfrau" was simplified to "frau" (usually with no capitalization, which is appropriate in German). The DL sense combines all the negative connotations, with the added component of homophobic presumption, even when superficial pro-gay intentions are claimed.

The appearance at the DL of straight women of various backgrounds and sensibilities (or the assumption that opinions or stances unliked by a poster inevitably were posted by a woman) triggered (YES, TRIGGERED) a strong response that still is visible today. Also, the frequency of usage here has, at times, lessened the intensity of meaning when the word is used.

An additional comment that needs to be made concerns the use of homophobic postings as a (pretended) righteous reaction to "frau." You can see it on this thread. A particularly vile example was the "Sexism is death"/"Sexism is killing us" troll who posted the same pleading post every time s/he saw the word. No it is more usual that such creatures respond to "frau" with "fag" or, sometimes, "AIDS-riddled fags." The false equivalency is obvious, and reflects the lowness, trollery and hate-speech unwellness of a few over-posting offenders here.

The sort that doesn't know what "conjugation" means but knows that it is something ugly in its own mirror.

Glad to help, OP!

It means

carwash cunt

Frau at DL often came up early on as an office reference.

[quote]Move to a male dominated position like I did.

So you're a gay porn star?

“Hausfrau” has been around forever as a derogatory description of a bitter, overweight SAH woman with curlers and a frying pan. It’s analogous to a shrew, a henpecker, a ballbuster. Fraus are more nuanced these days, and can work in offices but still maintain that self-righteous tyrannical hearth and home defender persona. They now have a “live, love laugh” preciousness as a finishing veneer, which is a more insidious form of their tyranny. The old 1950’s model didn’t do yoga or wear skin tight Lycra pants out all over town like the mug cradlers of today.

I'll admit, I first used Hausfrau and fishwife in the 90's to make fun of friends online and used as r22 descibed. I used frau on gay.com and DL in the early 00's. Mostly to describe Twisted N Jaded, a mean drunken bitch.

OP, you sound sexist AF. “A certain type of woman?”

Wow. Just wow. You do understand that if you’re a woman, your “type” is not exempt to sexual harassment, rape,, domestic violence, limited to zero access to reproductive healthcare, etc., yes?

OP. You do sound young but not too young. You also sound really sexist. And I’m sorry if it bothers you that someone is pointing this out, but someone should point it out, because if not, you will not examine whether or not you write, as someone who is sexist.

While r18 is correct that "frau" has existed on DL since before 2006, if you really want to understand when and how it reached its peak, see the classic DL thread "Fraus at the trough" - I'd argue that's where the neologism crystalized fully.

Sorry - it was "sows at the trough"

Had frau on the brain.

To be fair to fraus, I do think staying at home with small children all day for many years is harmful. You don’t get paid, you don’t develop emotionally, and the boredom is excruciating. You are supposed to enjoy every minute of it, and so there is guilt, too. Betty Friedan “The Feminist Mystique” is still relevant.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Sigh, what’s SAH, R22?

I thought it started here as ‘cubefrau’ and then was shortened to just ‘frau.’

I might be completely wrong though.

From UrbanDictionary in 2007, lol.

[quote] frau -- Stupid fat ugly older woman who posts non-stop on message boards about old lady topics, such as hummus recipes and their current object of lust. This object of obsession is usually a fugly contestant on American Idol (e.g. Taylor Hicks) or some other fug and/or gay singer, who they insist is very sexy and/or straight. Also hausfraus.

What I would like to know is what would you call the opposite of a "Karen"? Someone who when she asks to speak to your manager is actually giving praise rather than criticism. I've met a few, although they are very rare.

R32, a Betty? Those are usually older than Karens, they bake cookies and knit baby booties, and over-decorate their homes for Christmas. I imagine a lot of those ladies in the midwest, lol.

R31, meet R6.

When I first discovered DL in early 2005, the most comply used disparaging term for women was “negress”, obviously meant for black women. Eventually it fizzled and vanished with a little help from Muriel.

Any time I write my three German cousins who all live in Nordrhein-Westfalen, I giggle when I address the envelopes with "Frau."

I asked their sister, who lives in England, if the word or concept of "Frau" has any negative meanings to her knowledge, and she responded by asking if there was something wrong with me. "Most people I know are still more appalled by 'Ms.' than anything the Germans call themselves."