Chaucer et al [blond/blonde]

[neil]

My UK usage is 'blond' for males, and 'blonde' for females.

--Neil Crawford


> From: James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 06:05:32 -0800
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Chaucer et al
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Chaucer et al
>
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-
>
> Is *blond* vs. *blonde* a difference in US vs. British
> usage?
>
>
> --- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>> Possibly of interest:
>>
>>   1875 _The Riverside Magazine_ (Apr.) 185: Oh yes,
>> I got a packet ship, / Her name's the _Henry Clay_.
>>
>>   It is sexist to deny "feminine" status to
>> submarines - especially the nuclear, MIRV-equipped
>> kind.
>>
>>   JL
>>
>> GLL <guy1656 at OPUSNET.COM> wrote:
>>   ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: GLL
>> Subject: Re: Chaucer et al
>>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------>
-
>>
>>> Personally when I see 'they' as a singular my
>> evaluation
>>>> of the writer's maturity and subject competence
>> drops sharply.
>> :
>> : So much the worse for Chaucer, Shakespeare, et al.
>> But it's nice to
>> : have standards.
>> :
>> : >I also take 'points off' for writers who mix up
>> 'blond' and 'blonde.'
>>
>> ... but the use by Chaucer of -e and other gender
>> markers of his time earns
>> him the points back.
>>
>> Now - does anyone think it's odd to call a submarine
>> a 'she?'
>> I think that German makes an exception. There was
>> also an old saw that the KM
>> battlecruiser 'Bismarck' was referred to in the
>> masculine, but this did not
>> apply to [her] sister ship 'Tirpitz.'
>>
>> Comments?
>>
>> -GLL
>>
>>
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>
> James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
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