[TheForge] PC-ness Grammatical Pet Peeve Rant - Way OT

[Garrick Peterson]

To be equally pedantic:

Main Entry: 1sex
Pronunciation: 'seks
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin sexus
1 : either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many
species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male
especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures
2 : the sum of the structural, functional, and behavioral
characteristics of organisms that are involved in reproduction marked
by the union of gametes and that distinguish males and females
3 a : sexually motivated phenomena or behavior b : SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
4 : GENITALIA

Of interest is 4b.

Main Entry: 1gen·der
Pronunciation: 'jen-d&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gendre, from Anglo-French genre, gendre,
from Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind, gender -- more at KIN
1 a : a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun,
adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also
partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social
rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with
and selection of other words or grammatical forms b : membership of a
word or a grammatical form in such a subclass c : an inflectional form
showing membership in such a subclass
2 a : SEX <the feminine gender> b : the behavioral, cultural, or
psychological traits typically associated with one sex

Of interest - 2a

English, as a living language, is constantly evolving and changing.
"Sex", regardless of it's origins, is now taken to mean intercourse,
in addition to it's original definitions. "Gender", again regardless
of it's origins, now also means sex.

~G

ref: http://www.webster.com/dictionary/


On 5/29/07, Dan Tull <dantull at numail.org> wrote:
> It's getting so we just can't believe Bruce anymore.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 6:30 PM
> Subject: [TheForge] PC-ness Grammatical Pet Peeve Rant - Way OT
>
>
> >
> >> "Gender" is NOT a synonym for "sex."
> >
> > Merriam Webster said the contrary in 1958. Way to early for PC
> > influence. Said it again in in 1973.
> >
> >> With all the overt sexuality in this society, why did
> >> "gender" ever get plucked out of the dictionary as a
> >> euphamism for the word "sex" that even the Victorians
> >> freely used?
> >
> > "...black divinities of the feminine gender."  -- Charles Dickens (a
> > certified "Victorian", at least for part of his life.)
> >
> >
> > Much more gratifying to resist the disappearance of adverbs or the
> > increasing  construction of nice old irregular verbs as if they were
> > regular.  Or how about attacking wanton word highjacking such as
> > "proactive" which was turned into a meaningless buzzword by marketing
> > droids in the 80s? Or the major corporations which, in personnel
> > want ads, use "incumbent" as if it were the opposite of "outgoent". :-)
> > Or the signs in the supermarket isles that say "can vegetable" and
> > "can meat".
> >
> > But forget about "gender".  The usage you denigrate is long
> > established and the pedantic cabal that demands it be used only in
> > grammatical discourse is doomed.
> >
> >
> > ObMetalwork:
> >
> > There seems to be a burst of furnace replacement going on, at least in
> > my area. Looks to me like the cylindrical steel fire-boxes that are
> > being thrown out would make great gas forge shells if what you happen
> > to have found is a bit too small for your needs.  I lugged one home
> > today to that end. Got a nice squirrel cage blower from the same
> > (scrapped) furnace.
> >
> >
> >
> > - Mike
> >
> > --
> > Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
> >                                                           /V\
> > mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> > http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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