Susan: oh my god. I'm watching Dr. Phil (I know, he's disgusting) and one of the "expert women doctors" he's got on there giving advice just talked about the "stigmata" of getting cervical cancer. Do you even believe?
Barbara Atkinson: whaaa?
Barbara Atkinson: that's hysterical! (pun intended)
Stigmata: a plural noun that means marks that look like crucifixion wounds.
The word she wanted was stigma: the shame attached to something that's socially unacceptable.
Barbara's pun was a great one. Hysterical means extremely funny or affected by hysteria--an uncontrollable emotion such as grief. Its root is the Greek word for womb. Hysteria literally means wandering womb. We refrain from casting judgment on long-dead Greeks. Wait, no we don't. Sexist bastards.
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