[Lexicog] First Lady

[Michael Nicholas]

Dear Fritz, 
   One supposes that the spouse of an elected Head of State might be called upon to take the place of his/her spouse in an official act, albiet a minor one. There has to be a term created by the office of protocol to cover this eventuality. I believe that there have been several female polticians elected to the governorship of states in the US.  So what was the official title of their spouse? It gets more complicated if the politician in question reaches high office and has a life partner of the same gender. By the way, Fritz, who was the First Lady in the Adenaur era?

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> escribió:
              Caroline,
  
  Good to hear a lady’s voice on this subject.
  Madame Chancellor might be used by Jacques Chirac when addressing Angela Merkel in English. But in German it is Frau Bundeskanzlerin. See for a couple of more comments below.
  
          Fritz, I think the term is "Madame President," also Madame Chancellor as far as I know.  I have never seen Angela Merkel's husband referred to as anything but his proper name or "ihr Mann", though I don't read the German newspapers very often.

    
  < 
  First Husband seems to be a possibility, however no one would ever call the First Lady "First Wife" which seems to reduce the person in question to nothing more than another object ! belonging to the office holder,  

  
      Would First Husband not also reduce the person in question to nothing more than 
      another object belonging to the office holder?

    

    What is interesting, though not relevant to lexicography, is what the office of "First Gengleman" will entail.
  
       I don’t think the content the function/definition of “First Gentleman” is irrelevant
       to lexicography because this term will appear some day in the dictionary with a
       definition and/or illustrative sentences how it is used.

    

    Caroline Reul

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:

            Chaz,

    This would show to me (also in English and German) that a female head of State

    would not be called First Lady (maybe Mrs. President). I cannot imagine that Hillary Rodham Clinton, should she make it to the top, would be called the First Lady (maybe I am wrong). What I find very funny is the coinage First Gentleman.

    How about Primero Senor or el Hombre Primero in Spanish? Just kidding.

    Fritz

          When Panama's president was a woman (1999-2004) the first lady (Primera 
Dama) was her sister. I'm not sure what they would have called the 
president's husband but she was not married at the time.

-Chaz










  
    

  




  

         

 		
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