Have you ever considered the implications of the name of the website we all know and love and, in some instances, use for a daily fix? Perhaps you've taken it for granted that the name of the site means what it says, and that its founder, Mr. Pooper, knew exactly what he was doing when he christened it "PoopReport," instead of something else.
Consider how Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines the primary alternatives to the word poop:
Crap. 'krap (slang). Excrement -- usually considered vulgar; nonsense, rubbish -- usually considered vulgar.
Shit. 'shit, interjectionally also 'shE-&t. Excrement -- usually considered vulgar; nonsense, foolishness -- usually considered vulgar.
Now, how does that same dictionary define the word poop?
Well, according to Webster, it can mean "information." Or it can mean "the stern of a ship." But there is, in fact, in my dictionary, no excremental definition of the word poop. There are no vulgar connotations to this word, at least in edition that I own and consult for my writing projects.
Does this mean that Dave's choice for site's name has a fundamental flaw? Or does it mean, instead, that he is crazy like a fox?
I support the latter proposition. To resurrect a Bush The First conceit: poop is a kinder, gentler moniker for a subject that has the ability to turn people off at its mention. There is a healthy contingent of the American population that has been brought up to believe that #2 is a matter not fit for polite company under any circumstances. The reasons for this are many: it stinks, it's frequently messy, it requires some element of disrobing to accomplish, and it is the quintessential 'Miss Manners,' late-Victorian example of Too Much Information. Only passing references to extreme emergencies or chronic health conditions such as IBS can sometimes pass muster in social situations. But even these are usually conducted in hushed tones and not dwelt upon any longer than necessary to convey the gist. Many people quickly want to move on to the weather or how the kids are doing in school. (And never how the kids are using the bathrooms at school.)
Whether consciously or subconsciously, however, I think Mr. Pooper's choice was brilliant. Let's return to that first definition of poop: information. While this site uses humor as a hook to attract registrants and participants, I believe its primary mission is to disseminate much-needed information and enlightenment on a basic fact of life that mostly gets swept under the rug (or, more accurately, flushed down the toilet) without a second thought. Once someone is here, fully on board and presented with the opportunity to browse archives that now go back over five full years, it is impossible to view #2 the same way again. In categories like Intellectual Crap, Techniques, Consumer Reports, Travel Logs, and Academic Poop, the great body of articles normalize the subject for many people who have been taught to avoid contemplation of it at all costs. These discussions act as great behavioral equalizers for the perceptual extremes that perpetuate our culture.
True, there are anecdotal treatments of the runs, brutal bouts with constipation, pigout aftermaths and off-the-wall comics that represent the more snickering, sensational aspects of our shared experiences. There is a Mad Magazine quality to these reports that registers with many people like the gap in Alfred E. Neuman's smile; and they, too, are therapeutic in effect. How many of us who have had to dash to the toilet for an emergency dump have been able to describe the experience in detail to friends, family, and co-workers as easily as we might discuss what we had for lunch? Not many, I suspect.
Once the novelty of reading about these universal emergency situations has worn off, however, the site offers a deeper level of understanding on the subject and invites the average pooper (to use the term that we seem most comfortable with here) to examine his or her basic attitudes towards bodily functions in general. The implications are far-reaching. For those contemplating families, it perhaps means deciding upon a new and more enlightened approach to toilet training. It may mean reinforcing such enlightened attitudes beyond the toilet training stages so that Shamefulness does not set in once a child is exposed to the mixed messages that peer pressure often brings to the table. Call it the ewww factor -- it's what is conjured up by those with overly delicate sensibilities who wouldn't be caught dead on a site like this.
Over time, the poop on poop should evolve into a much less self-conscious vision of this basic fact of life, and it will be cutting-edge sites like this one that will take us there -- emphasizing our commonality and the brother/sisterhood of bodily functions. So in selecting "Poop" Report, rather than "Crap" Report or "Shit" Report, Dave has chosen both wisely and well, inviting all the curious to the table with the least off-putting label possible, and allowing them to open their minds and discard some time-honored and unproductive prejudices.
