Chaucer et al

[Wilson Gray]

This distinction is / was actually *taught*? I learned it solely from
seeing how it was used in the print medium. And now someone is
claiming / has claimed that this patterning is sexist?! Hence, only
the use of the masculine form is correct?! Doesn't this strike anyone
but me as sexism with its brains blown out? If the *masculine* form is
made the only correct form, doesn't that simply underline the
supposedly-implied claim that the feminine is subordinate to the
masculine? Make the *feminine* form the standard form and I may begin
to see this as something more than simply white folk with too much
money and too much time on their hands, giving them the leisure to
sweat this kind of triviality. How soon will it be before someone
points out the sexism inherent in the distinction between "widower"
and "widow"? Will "widow" be eliminated from the language in favor of
"widower" in order to avoid the appearance of sexism?

Kummoan, yawl!

I know of at least one instance in which precisely the opposite of
this is in process. Basque, which has no grammatical gender, has begun
to use a new word for "widow" based on the grammatically *feminine*
word for "widow" used in the abutting Romance languages.

-Wilson

On 11/6/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Chaucer et al
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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> -----
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--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org