Letter: The geeks have a word for it

ALLISON Pearson and other British television critics seem unfamiliar with a key term in the vocabulary of MTV/Channel 4's Beavis and Butt-Head. It's not 'woosie' but 'wussy', a combination of 'wimp' and 'pussy', which rhymes with the latter. The term is invariably used as a noun in variant forms, ie 'what a wuss'. It is mildly euphemistic, closer to 'wally' than 'wanker' in effect, and like these cognates, reserved exclusively to describe other males.

Prof Elaine Showalter

London WC1