Heard on The Jud es: "bartend(e)ress"

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:27 PM -0500 1/25/09, Bill Palmer wrote:
>How is "waitress" regarded? or "Priestess"?

See previous note on "waitress"--the question is regarded by whom?
As for "priestess", it evokes a different job description from
"priest".  A female Episcopal priest (there are such, right?) is not
a "priestess", who is in the AHD4's words 'a woman who presides over
religious rites, especially in pagan religions'.

>has the "-ix" ("avaitrix", "administratix") suffix completely disappeared
>from usage?

Largely, maybe because they're tricky to pluralize--and to spell! ;-)

LH

>
>Bill Palmer
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <RonButters at AOL.COM>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 1:31 PM
>Subject: Heard on The Jud es: "bartend(e)ress"
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail
>>header -----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
>>Subject:      Heard on The Jud es: "bartend(e)ress"
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>No doubt "chairess" never made the grade because it sounds dangerously
>>like=20
>>"choress" ('woman who does chores') or "charess" ('woman who burns
>>toast').=20=
>>In=20
>>the end, all the problems of the world are surely related in some way
>>to=20
>>merger of nonhigh back vowels in America.
>>
>>
>>In a message dated 1/25/09 1:25:51 PM, Berson at ATT.NET writes:
>>
>>>At 1/25/2009 01:08 PM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>>>"Headmaster" is not a word I use commonly, and I am not sure how many
>>>>wom=
>>en
>>>  >still call themselves "Headmistresses," but I would expect it is a=20
>>>shrinking
>>>>number, given the sexual connotations of "mistress". Of course, there
>>>>are
>>>>portions of modern culture for which both both "headmaster" and
>>>>"headmistress" sound
>>>>primarily like porn-film titles.
>>>=20
>>>There is "head of school".=A0 (There is also "chair" for "chairman" or
>>>"chairwoman".)
>>>=20
>>>Joel
>>>=20
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>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>=20
>>>=20
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