Two other countries separated by a common language

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 1, 2007, at 7:15 AM, Doug Harris wrote:

> Except, of course, when you're seeing cutsie somethings
> such as cowboys / cowgirls, steers / heifers, jacks /jills,
> and my personal favorite (!): talkers / gawkers.

this would be the verbal women / visual men stereotypes, right?  i
ask because the other pairs are in the order male/female, while this
one looks like female/male.

"talkers" and "gawkers" are often paired with one another, in one
order or the other, but without reference to sex differences.

"steers" vs. "heifers" is on odd pairing, since the words do more
than distinguish male and female bovines.  "steers" is especially
unfortunate, since steers are *castrated*.

arnold

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