Heard on The Judges: "bartend(e)ress"

RonButters at AOL.COM RonButters at AOL.COM
Sun Jan 25 19:35:51 UTC 2009


All this is surely in the ADS archives. "Waitress" is indeed alive and well, 
though "server" seems to be the term favored by the restaurants I would want 
to go to. I don't know any female priests who would call themselves 
"priestesses," though the term survives in reference to other cultures, mostly ancient.

In a message dated 1/25/09 2:27:24 PM, w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET writes:


> How is "waitress" regarded? or "Priestess"?
> 
> has the "-ix" ("avaitrix", "administratix") suffix completely disappeared
> from usage?
> 
> Bill Palmer
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <RonButters at AOL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 1:31 PM
> Subject: Heard on The Jud es: "bartend(e)ress"
> 
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
> > Subject:      Heard on The Jud es: "bartend(e)ress"
> > 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > No doubt "chairess" never made the grade because it sounds dangerously
> > like=20
> > "choress" ('woman who does chores') or "charess" ('woman who burns
> > toast').=20=
> > In=20
> > the end, all the problems of the world are surely related in some way
> > to=20
> > merger of nonhigh back vowels in America.
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 1/25/09 1:25:51 PM, Berson at ATT.NET writes:
> >
> >
> >> At 1/25/2009 01:08 PM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> >> >"Headmaster" is not a word I use commonly, and I am not sure how many
> >> >wom=
> > en
> >> >still call themselves "Headmistresses," but I would expect it is a=20
> >> shrinking
> >> >number, given the sexual connotations of "mistress". Of course, there
> >> >are
> >> >portions of modern culture for which both both "headmaster" and
> >> >"headmistress" sound
> >> >primarily like porn-film titles.
> >>=20
> >> There is "head of school".=A0 (There is also "chair" for "chairman" or
> >> "chairwoman".)
> >>=20
> >> Joel
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>=20
> >>=20
> >
> >
> >
> >
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