Chaucer et al

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's the distinction I was taught in Junior High.

  Since then it has been condemned as sexist to use the "e" form for women, though it could be interpreted as ignorant and linguistically insensitive not to. Like saying "NeanderTHal."

  Logophobes. Ya gotta love 'em.

  (No OED entry for "logophobe.")

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Chaucer et al
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In my experience, "blonde" has always referred to a woman with blond
hair, whereas "blond" has always referred to a man with blond hair.

-Wilson

On 11/6/06, James Smith wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: James Smith
> Subject: Re: Chaucer et al
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is *blond* vs. *blonde* a difference in US vs. British
> usage?
>
>
> --- Jonathan Lighter 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 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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