Heard on The Judges: "bartend(e)ress"

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:56 PM -0500 2/8/09, Mark Mandel wrote:
>That one doesn't even pretend to be merely a sex marker; "-let" is a
>diminutive from the get-go. What's interesting about "starlet" in this
>context is that it's always female in reference. -- Which, come to
>think of it, may have been your point to begin with.
>
>Mark Mandel

Maybe influenced by the feminine diminutive -ette, as in "majorette"
or "usherette", although the spelling and stress pattern are
different.  (I know there's been a reanalysis there, since a
"cigarette" isn't necessarily a small female cigar, but when appended
to a human-denoting noun, it does seem to be sex-restricted.)

LH

>
>
>On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 2:37 PM, Scott <harview at montana.com> wrote:
>>  Can't believe that nobody brought up 'starlet' in this discussion.
>>
>>  Scott Swanson
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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