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

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:25 PM -0500 1/25/09, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>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 women
>>still call themselves "Headmistresses," but I would expect it is a 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.

Right, cane in hand.

>
>There is "head of school".

and "principal", although that lacks the posh, private school
associations (along with the BDSM ones).

>(There is also "chair" for "chairman" or
>"chairwoman".)
>
And "chair" in that sense has been around since the 17th c., the OED
cites indicate:

1658-9 in Burton Diary 23 Mar. (1828) 243 The Chair behaves himself
like a Busby amongst so many school-boys..and takes a little too much
on him.

LH

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