Questions regarding the grammatical gender of English words.
4
votes
1answer
65 views
Do vocal pitch and timbre differ by accent?
Guys from the UK and India seem to have higher-pitched voices than Americans. Similarly, I have heard comments from Japanese-American women that they make an effort to lower their voices when speaking ...
0
votes
1answer
69 views
Pronouns and declension for merged/hermaphroditic entities
I have a pair of friends who since entering into a relationship have become rather disgustingly effusive and clingy, to the point where people around them have begun referring them an 'it' [singular], ...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
Addressing someone with no specified gender [duplicate]
How do you address someone whose gender is not specified, when you are writing something? Take this as an example:
The teacher said we should go, ____ said we are good pupils.
Would you insert ...
2
votes
1answer
202 views
Default gender for pronouns [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is using “he” for a gender-neutral third-person correct?
I’m sure this is a duplicate, but I've heard that when the gender is unknown you are to use he instead of he or ...
4
votes
1answer
171 views
What is the origin of “-ix” as a feminine variation?
Some words are made feminine by altering the suffix to be -ix. Examples:
dominator → dominatrix
executor → executrix
rector → rectrix
What is the origin of this variation?
From my 5 years of ...
10
votes
4answers
592 views
Do words for male animals include those which are castrated?
English has distinct words for the male and female of many common animal species. For example, we have bull / cow, rooster / hen, ram / ewe, stallion / mare, boar / sow, man / woman.
However, we ...
5
votes
2answers
182 views
Plural of “Animus/Anima”
What is the plural of the words “animus” and “anima”? In any context (literary, Jung psychology, apothecary etc.). Is there English v. Latin differences? Interwebs are no help: versions differ from ...
1
vote
0answers
26 views
how to refer a person with indefined sex? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” versus “their”)?
the title is a little confuse because i don't know how to explain in one line... ...
0
votes
2answers
152 views
“Layman” and gender equality
Is it correct to write:
He wants to explain X concept to the layman, not before warning him ...
Or should I write:
He wants to explain X concept to the layman, not before warning him or her ...
4
votes
1answer
342 views
What is the word for nouns with gender-specific forms?
Thought I would try a question with visual aid.*
The image below shows Claire Danes, "Actor", in a kiosk poster for the Met. The variation in usage between actor and actress for female thespians is ...
2
votes
3answers
348 views
Personal pronouns for animals
In my native language German, every animal has an article. This is understandable, if one wants for example to distinguish a male pig (boar) from a female pig (sow). But if one just talks about the ...
1
vote
0answers
83 views
Identifying the implied gender of nouns [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Referring to objects as “she”
English officially does not have genders like German or other languages; for example, a chair is an it, not a he or she.
...
3
votes
3answers
437 views
She/he to refer a user [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Reason for the current trend to use «she» as the gender-neutral pronoun?
Can the feminine pronouns be gender-neutral?
Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular ...
0
votes
5answers
1k views
Origin of 'fairer sex'
I've seen the term 'the fairer sex' being used in a number of areas to refer to females. How did they get that title?
What does 'fairer' refer to in this case?
-2
votes
1answer
142 views
What does “incognita” mean? [closed]
American Heritage Dictionary reads:
incognita
adv & adj, with one’s identity disguised or concealed. Used of a woman;
n, A woman or girl whose identity is disguised or concealed.
...
4
votes
5answers
406 views
Using “she” with gender-neutral nouns
The song “Frozen” from Madonna’s Ray of Light (1998) contains the lyrics:
Love is a bird, she needs to fly,
Let all the hurt inside of you die.
Does she refer to bird or love? And why is it ...
6
votes
4answers
562 views
Gender-neutral Forms
What is the unisex form of a word like fisherman? Do you have to use fisherman and fisherwoman separately, or is fisherperson acceptable? I couldn’t find a dictionary with the word …
In general, what ...
-2
votes
1answer
307 views
An appropriate word to describe words that are common in natural gender
Generally speaking, the notion of "gender", more precisely of "grammatical gender", is used to classify nouns into groups. As an instance, in Italian language there are two categories labeled ...
27
votes
6answers
2k views
A word that says a person is both female and your friend
It's often confusing for me to talk about my friends, especially my female friends. This is because in Dutch there are words for both male ("vriend") and female ("vriendin") friends. In English ...
1
vote
0answers
129 views
Unisex slang for “man” [closed]
In slang, one can use the generic "man", to describe his conversant. For instance:
Man, it's sure hot here this season
How can I express that for a woman I'm talking with?
1
vote
4answers
2k views
Can I use “you guys” when it includes gals? [Northeast USA] [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “guy” gender-neutral?
I'm in the Northeast USA.
I'm about to email 3 people, 2 are women
It is ok to say "I thought you guys would find this ...
3
votes
2answers
606 views
Difference in male vs female use of the English language
Is there a somewhat reliable (like, for example 70% success rate) way to determine whether a paragraph in the English language was written by a man or a woman (adult male/female)? Any credible ...
13
votes
2answers
556 views
Is “so” more feminine than “very”?
Many Japanese textbooks of English mention the "feminine 'so'": the use of "so" for "very" is more typical of a feminine speaker. I don't think this is true in the US (I learned English living in ...
0
votes
2answers
108 views
Why are “player”, “researcher” and “designer” referred to by a feminine gender specific pronoun? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Can the feminine pronouns be gender-neutral?
Reason for the current trend to use "she" as the gender-neutral pronoun?
In a lot of academic literature that I'm reading ...
5
votes
1answer
133 views
Why do newspapers use the terms “women voters” and “women candidates”?
I've noticed that when discussing political demographics or candidates, many reporters use the phrases "women voters" and "women candidates". This feels horribly awkward grammatically. It's hard to ...
2
votes
3answers
185 views
Perception of subjects with indeterminate gender [closed]
Being German, I am used to getting information about the gender of a sentence's subject in the same sentence:
Meine Freundin mag Bücher.
Here it is immediately clear that it's a female friend of ...
0
votes
1answer
358 views
Generic way for writing about person without knowing his/her gender [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a correct gender-neutral, singular pronoun (“his” versus “her” versus “their”)?
Is there generic way to write something ...
2
votes
3answers
345 views
Can the feminine pronouns be gender-neutral? [closed]
I know this sounds weird but I've been noticing a lot of texts on the Internet like this one:
"Any citizen is concerned with her well-being ...". The word in question is "her". To me it seems like in ...
6
votes
5answers
1k views
What is the male equivalent of “damsel”?
Is there a male equivalent of "damsel" ?
damsel (dam·sel)
Pronunciation: /ˈdamzəl/
noun archaic or literary
a young unmarried woman.
(from OxfordDictionaries.com)
10
votes
4answers
7k views
What is the male equivalent of “mistress” in formal English?
The mistress definition, Oxford dictionary
a woman having an extramarital sexual relationship, esp. with a married man
I am looking for the male equivalent of 'mistress' as defined above. Some ...
9
votes
5answers
923 views
What is the gender of an aircraft?
I know that a ship is always referred using "she", but what about aircraft? What should we use when we're referring to aircraft? Is it the same for automobile?
2
votes
3answers
219 views
Female equivalent of “creator”?
Female equivalent of "creator"?
Or is it unisex?
I'm a programmer and I named a variable "creatingFunction", which sounds even worse than "creatorFunction".
8
votes
2answers
349 views
Why use the term “Sister sites” instead of “Brother sites”?
This came up recently on programmers.SE, when someone (a Russian, presumably non-native English speaker) asked why we used the term "sister sites", instead of "brother sites". Of course, I'm a native ...
2
votes
3answers
261 views
Noun genders in Moby Dick
English nouns do not have grammatical gender. But in Moby Dick, some nouns do seem to have gender, like "ship" (feminine) and "whale" (masculine). Some passages:
And now the time of tide has come; ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
User: She, He, She or He, or They? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a correct gender neutral, singular pronoun (his vs. her vs. their)?
I would like to know if when I'm writing about a "user" (in the broad sense), what do I ...
3
votes
1answer
706 views
Difference between female and male usage [closed]
What explains the difference of a de facto larger frequency of vowels of one writer compared to another? In the statistics data I examined, a vowel had higher probability in the text from the female ...
0
votes
4answers
611 views
Equivalent of “Man up” for a female [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Gender-neutral equivalent for “Take it like a man”
Does this make sense? For instance:
"John, just man up and get on with it".
You can't say this to a ...
6
votes
3answers
5k views
Is there a feminine equivalent of “emasculate”?
e·mas·cu·late
Deprive (a man) of his male role or identity
Is there a female equivalent? I came up with "efemulate" but this sounds strange.
4
votes
2answers
1k views
A man's breast vs. a woman's breasts
Why is it that breast is used when referring to a man's chest, but breasts is used for a woman's? Could breast also mean a woman's chest, or do breasts have to be used when referring to a woman's ...
0
votes
2answers
101 views
Gender question [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Speaking about someone of unknown gender…
Gender neutral pronoun
I'm writing a paper about markets and mention several times providers and their offers. The ...
2
votes
2answers
522 views
Speaking about someone of unknown gender [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Gender neutral pronoun
For example, user clicked the button. I don't know if the user is male or female, what gender should I use? Now I read a book, where the user is ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Is the word “women's” a typo?
My browser's spellcheck says it is, but I can't figure out why. Is Firefox sexist?
3
votes
5answers
556 views
Why we say the earth is beautiful not handsome?
Why we say the world is beautiful?
Can't we say the world is handsome?
3
votes
2answers
166 views
Is the formation “[s]he” overly distracting?
Does the use of "[s]he" as a gender-neutral pronoun prompt eye-rolling in the reader or is it generally accepted? I know it cannot be pronounced, but it seems to me a helpful contraction in written ...
1
vote
0answers
164 views
How to take the gender of an anonymous person into consideration? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Gender neutral pronoun
Very often, I find myself writing about a user, an anonymous person whose gender I don't know.
Right after mentioning this abstract user, I need ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Should I use “authoress” for a feminine author?
Often I come across the term "female author" rather than "authoress". Which is the correct usage? "Female author" sounds wrong to me as other words that end in "-or" take a sex.
7
votes
1answer
499 views
Where does gender attach in “brotherly/sisterly”?
If Leia loves her brother Luke, does she feel sisterly love (because she is his sister) or brotherly love (because he is her brother)?
13
votes
2answers
5k views
Why is a woman a “widow” and a man a “widower”?
There are lots of words that have male and female forms, and usually there are alternate suffixes to the words which indicate the gender; for example, "waiter" vs. "waitress", "mister" vs. "mistress", ...
6
votes
4answers
198 views
“His head” or “their head”?
I was disappointed to see a favorite storybook from my childhood has been edited. (Harry, the Dirty Dog; ISBN-13: 978-0064430098) I distinctly remember the text written as follows:
...but ...
85
votes
19answers
9k views
What is a feminine version of 'guys'?
I commonly use the word 'guys' to refer to a group of males colloquially. It's colloquial but not rude, off putting, condescending, patronizing (though I wouldn't use it with a group of men at a board ...
