Some of the funniest and weirdest period euphemisms
Do you know what's common between sharks, the moon, and Mary? They're all code for your period.
It's the 21st Century, and period talk is still very much taboo. Sanitary pads are still wrapped in 500 layers of newspaper and hidden like they contain nuclear codes, while period stains are considered the equivalent of murder charges. If you think about it, when you were in school, did you ever really call your period a period? "Chums", "time of the month", "shark week", we used any term but period. Why though? Is the stigma so deeply ingrained in us that we treat something that happens to us every month like Voldermort?
A study showed that there are about 5000 euphemisms for getting your period. Yup, 5000.
We agree, your period isn't the prettiest, and the pain can be compared to a visit from Satan himself. So giving it funny names is a great way to describe your situation and add humour to a rather unpleasant experience. But the problem arises when these names are deliberately used to avoid the words "period" or "menstruation".
The point is not that period slang is wrong or not "woke" enough. The issue at hand is that language mirrors what we feel. Why are there so many alternatives? Sleeping is called sleeping, walking is called walking, so why is being on your period in need of so many synonyms? The goal is to reach a point where every girl chooses to use slang instead of being cornered to do so.
Now that we've established that period is in no way a taboo word, we present to you some of the funniest and weirdest slangs people use across the world:
- Strawberry Week
- The English Have Landed
- I'm With Chico
- Moon time
- Monthly Fried
- Japan is attacking
- Cranberry Woman
- The Curse
- I’m With Andrew. The One That Comes Every Month
- Ketchup Week
- Communists in the Gazebo
- Defrosting the Steak
- Mother Nature
- Code red
- Bloody Mary
- The blob
- Lady business
- Red wedding
- Carrie
- Girl flu
- Monthly friend
- Having the painters in
- Moon time
- Granny’s Stuck in Traffic
- I’m Untouchable