andy's definitions
A hardline Stalinist. A tankie is a member of a communist group or a "fellow traveller" (sympathiser) who believes fully in the political system of the Soviet Union and defends/defended the actions of the Soviet Union and other accredited states (China, Serbia, etc.) to the hilt, even in cases where other communists criticise their policies or actions. For instance, such a person favours overseas interventions by Soviet-style states, defends these regimes when they engage in human rights violations, and wishes to establish a similar system in other countries such as Britain and America.
The term is used to distinguish the rare individuals with these kinds of beliefs from communists more broadly (including Communist Party members), whose adherence to Soviet doctrine and attachment to existing "socialist" states is somewhat weaker.
It is always more-or-less abusive in the sense that those termed tankies do not use the term themselves, but it doesn't have any particular bite (unlike, say, Trot).
The term derives from the fact that the divisions within the communist movement first arose when the Soviet Union sent tanks into communist Hungary in 1956, to crush an attempt to establish an alternative version of communism which was not embraced by the Russians. Most communists outside the eastern bloc opposed this action and criticised the Soviet Union. The "tankies" were those who said "send the tanks in".
The epithet has stuck because tankies also supported "sending the tanks in" in cases such as Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Bosnia and Kosovo/a (in the case of the Serbian state), and so on (whereas the rest of the communist movement has gravitated towards anti-militarism).
The term is used to distinguish the rare individuals with these kinds of beliefs from communists more broadly (including Communist Party members), whose adherence to Soviet doctrine and attachment to existing "socialist" states is somewhat weaker.
It is always more-or-less abusive in the sense that those termed tankies do not use the term themselves, but it doesn't have any particular bite (unlike, say, Trot).
The term derives from the fact that the divisions within the communist movement first arose when the Soviet Union sent tanks into communist Hungary in 1956, to crush an attempt to establish an alternative version of communism which was not embraced by the Russians. Most communists outside the eastern bloc opposed this action and criticised the Soviet Union. The "tankies" were those who said "send the tanks in".
The epithet has stuck because tankies also supported "sending the tanks in" in cases such as Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979, Bosnia and Kosovo/a (in the case of the Serbian state), and so on (whereas the rest of the communist movement has gravitated towards anti-militarism).
I wouldn't be surprised if the tankies even defend Saddam Hussein.
Some of the people round George W Bush used to be left-wing, but they haven't really changed their views much; they were mostly tankies.
Some of the people round George W Bush used to be left-wing, but they haven't really changed their views much; they were mostly tankies.
by Andy April 20, 2004
Get the tankiemug. by andy August 31, 2003
Get the Jazzymug. by andy April 20, 2005
Get the rocusmug. To masturbate
by Andy February 23, 2004
Get the baitin'mug. by Andy October 22, 2004
Get the Fibesmug. by Andy November 3, 2002
Get the yomug. Originally a concept in Freudian psychoanalysis which has later spread into popular use, probably because of its rude connotations.
An anal-fixated person is someone who is excessively tidy and obsessed with neatness, appearance and order. Such people are bureaucratic-minded, petty-minded jobsworths who make other people's lives a misery by creating unnecessary hurdles, and/or who lead a sad life due to their incapacity to set aside their obsession with regularity. It is often used as an insult in cases where people are overly strict or rigid about something.
The origin is that Freud, in his early work, said that young children go through three stages, oral, anal and phallic, before the age of 5, and that successfully traversing each stage is crucial to later psychological wellbeing. (The phallic stage produces the Oedipus Complex or in girls, the Electra Complex and penis envy). If someone fails to traverse a stage, usually because of excessively rigid parenting (though also sometimes through the opposite), they become "fixated" and have unresolved libidinal (i.e. psycho-sexual) issues which overshadow their later lives.
The anal stage occurs around the time a young child is potty-trained, and can include experiencing pleasure from either retaining or releasing shit. The characteristics usually called 'anal-fixated' are those of the anal-retentive, who gained disproportionate enjoyment from holding shit in, possibly because of too-rigid potty training. (An anal-fixated person can also strictly speaking be anal-expulsive, which leads to characteristics such as messiness etc., but this has not passed over into popular use). It expresses itself in later life in neuroses centred on rigidity and regularity.
In popular usage, usually abbreviated to "anal".
An anal-fixated person is someone who is excessively tidy and obsessed with neatness, appearance and order. Such people are bureaucratic-minded, petty-minded jobsworths who make other people's lives a misery by creating unnecessary hurdles, and/or who lead a sad life due to their incapacity to set aside their obsession with regularity. It is often used as an insult in cases where people are overly strict or rigid about something.
The origin is that Freud, in his early work, said that young children go through three stages, oral, anal and phallic, before the age of 5, and that successfully traversing each stage is crucial to later psychological wellbeing. (The phallic stage produces the Oedipus Complex or in girls, the Electra Complex and penis envy). If someone fails to traverse a stage, usually because of excessively rigid parenting (though also sometimes through the opposite), they become "fixated" and have unresolved libidinal (i.e. psycho-sexual) issues which overshadow their later lives.
The anal stage occurs around the time a young child is potty-trained, and can include experiencing pleasure from either retaining or releasing shit. The characteristics usually called 'anal-fixated' are those of the anal-retentive, who gained disproportionate enjoyment from holding shit in, possibly because of too-rigid potty training. (An anal-fixated person can also strictly speaking be anal-expulsive, which leads to characteristics such as messiness etc., but this has not passed over into popular use). It expresses itself in later life in neuroses centred on rigidity and regularity.
In popular usage, usually abbreviated to "anal".
My teacher is so damn anal-fixated! She says she'll fail me if I include so much as one word over the word-limit.
I'm only late because some anal-fixated shop assistant decided my credit card signature needed going over with a fine tooth-comb.
I'm only late because some anal-fixated shop assistant decided my credit card signature needed going over with a fine tooth-comb.
by Andy April 20, 2004
Get the anal-fixatedmug.