How do you define skinny?

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Replies

  • gingerveg
    gingerveg Posts: 748 Member
    I have learned since joining mfp that skinny is used as an insult to a person's health, fitness, muscle and abilities.

    I get called slim, slender, thin, healthy, svelte, fit, athletic, strong, small, petite, tiny, little, dancer body, even curvy. You'd be surprised how muscular a small person can actually be. Some people are just small when they are healthy and fit (a natural result of being an athlete or dancer). Generalizations are stupid. People can be pretty dumb. People that feel the need to insult other people's bodies should try channeling that into improving their own physical abilities.
    Yes this ^ and you said it so much more succinctly and eloquently than me :)
  • ashesfromfire
    ashesfromfire Posts: 867 Member
    Yeah - I have a really bad relationship with "skinny"
    As a recovering anorexic the word has a negative connotation to me.
    Though I totally agree there is a difference between "slender" and "skinny" I'm not sure there's a solid line where you cross from one to the other.
    (Reminds me of what a professor recently said: What is sex? I bet you can't think of a definition, but still, when you SEE it, you know what it is!)
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
    “Man is the only critter who feels the need to label things as flowers or weeds.”
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    I've never been skinny. It's almost a forgein term to me. I'm more concerned with giggly. The less giggly the better.
  • xiamjackie
    xiamjackie Posts: 611 Member
    When she looks like she needs a sammich.

    My friends and I say this all the time.
  • xiamjackie
    xiamjackie Posts: 611 Member
    I've never been skinny. It's almost a forgein term to me. I'm more concerned with giggly. The less giggly the better.

    Do you mean giggly or jiggly? I don't think losing weight will make you giggle less. :laugh:
  • schondell
    schondell Posts: 556 Member
    Skinny is not "an ugly word". If you are a size 0 or 2, IMO, you are "skinny" no matter your body fat percentage.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
    Skinny is not "an ugly word". If you are a size 0 or 2, IMO, you are "skinny" no matter your body fat percentage.

    Well then, I guess I'm skinny. Whatever, must we label everyone?

    Human behaviour has been contrived to fit a particular brand. The whole social construct is designed to consume; thus, humans have been programmed to consume, which has led to a predictable pattern of behaviour.
    Of course, there are many people that defy this pattern; but such people are deemed to have peculiar idiosyncratic tendencies, and are generally viewed as being outside the mainstream of what is considered to be *normal* behaviour.
    Our whole way of being is dictated by axioms and maxims that have been prescribed to us since birth.
    It really is the ultimate form of mass control.

    Labeling others begets defensiveness, no?
  • schondell
    schondell Posts: 556 Member
    The question is "How do you define skinny?", not for a pointless analysis of human behaviour.

    EDIT: And we need labels in society, they are there for a reason. How do you define a morbidly obese person? How do you define a dangerous situation? How do you define anything?? WITH LABELS
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
    The question is "How do you define skinny?", not for a pointless analysis of human behaviour.

    EDIT: And we need labels in society, they are there for a reason. How do you define a morbidly obese person? How do you define a dangerous situation? How do you define anything?? WITH LABELS

    discernment.
  • sarahslim100
    sarahslim100 Posts: 485 Member
    A flat stomach
  • mfoutch86
    mfoutch86 Posts: 87
    I have learned since joining mfp that skinny is used as an insult to a person's health, fitness, muscle and abilities.

    I get called slim, slender, thin, healthy, svelte, fit, athletic, strong, small, petite, tiny, little, dancer body, even curvy. You'd be surprised how muscular a small person can actually be. Some people are just small when they are healthy and fit (a natural result of being an athlete or dancer). Generalizations are stupid. People can be pretty dumb. People that feel the need to insult other people's bodies should try channeling that into improving their own physical abilities.


    lol " Generalizations are stupid" is a generalization.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    I have learned since joining mfp that skinny is used as an insult to a person's health, fitness, muscle and abilities.

    I get called slim, slender, thin, healthy, svelte, fit, athletic, strong, small, petite, tiny, little, dancer body, even curvy. You'd be surprised how muscular a small person can actually be. Some people are just small when they are healthy and fit (a natural result of being an athlete or dancer). Generalizations are stupid. People can be pretty dumb. People that feel the need to insult other people's bodies should try channeling that into improving their own physical abilities.


    lol " Generalizations are stupid" is a generalization.

    I guess, a generalization about generalization (starts getting into circular logic). Kind of a benign generalization. I meant generalizations about people, not concepts. I probably shouldn't have said people can be dumb.

    I was feeling a little grumpy when I wrote this, anyhow. I'm still feeling grumpy now, too. Kind of a been a bummer day, in general (haha).
  • fragrantair
    fragrantair Posts: 27
    When you look at their arm when it's at their sides and the upper arm fat doesn't pudge out. It just looks bony. Also, thin legs and no stomach pooch.
  • ihateroses
    ihateroses Posts: 893 Member
    Its relative.

    I've noticed that people tend to call people who weigh less than they do "skinny"

    Also it is a compliment if you call someone that's not actually skinny skinny...

    And it is an insult if you call someone that is skinny skinny...

    Public correctness sucks.
  • Umeboshi
    Umeboshi Posts: 1,637 Member
    People loaded with thin privilege.
  • Lyssa62
    Lyssa62 Posts: 930 Member
    This was originally my motivation. No homo but the dudes hot.

    ian-somerhalder-22.jpg

    yes he is ..this is what I told santa I wanted under my tree this year!
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
    to me, calling someone "skinny" is not a compliment, just like calling them "fat".

    Definition:
    skinny [ˈskɪnɪ]
    adj -nier, -niest
    1. lacking in flesh; thin
    2. consisting of or resembling skin
    skinniness n

    I probably am oversensitive to it, but when someone looks at me and says something about me being so skinny, it really annoys me! In my mind, skinny is someone that is under to low-average weight with little to no muscle tone - not athletic at all.

    like this guy:
    skinny-guy.jpg

    I agree with this. I get very offended if people call me skinny. I am NOT skinny, far from it. I have curves, muscles, etc. Just because I'm not fat doesn't mean I'm skinny.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    I only meant from the stuff I was reading in the comment thread that skinny would not be how I would describe myself based on the definitions being given. And, I did not mean that it was any kind of hardship or anything like that. It's not so serious. And it wouldn't bother me if someone called me skinny, as long as they did not mean it the way people in this thread do. Health is important to me too, and that's ok.
  • WestCoastPhoenix
    WestCoastPhoenix Posts: 802 Member
    23024889.jpg
  • n2thenight24
    n2thenight24 Posts: 1,651 Member
    I guess I define it two ways in my mind. If I think 'skinny' for a guy, I automatically think unattractive, like the picture above. When I think 'skinny' for a girl, I think well, thin. Goal Weight type thin. I've never really put much thought into it. Was skinny and mostly underweight my whole life, just started gaining weight in the past year or so due to some health issues, and pregnancies. And I guess when I think skinny, I think of the way I looked before. And to be honest, I don't wanna look like that again. Or anywhere near it really.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    I am skinny, lean, thin, however you'd like to say it. No one in their right mind would call me fat. I don't consider it a negative term and have never heard it used as such outside of fitness circles. I would never have thought to feel insulted at being called skinny before spending too much time on the forums here.

    This! :flowerforyou:
  • clarkeje1
    clarkeje1 Posts: 1,641 Member
    Bones stickin out
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    I am skinny, lean, thin, however you'd like to say it. No one in their right mind would call me fat. I don't consider it a negative term and have never heard it used as such outside of fitness circles. I would never have thought to feel insulted at being called skinny before spending too much time on the forums here.

    This! :flowerforyou:

    ^Yeah, that is good. This whole topic is actually pretty silly. If my brain hadn't been on vacation, I probably wouldn't have even bothered responding to it.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    thin and bony, little muscle tone....
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    ...and yet the nonsense continues. Didn't anyone actually read the question and register how absurd it is?
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