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Utopian Turtletop. Monsieur Croche's Bête Noire. Contact: turtletop [at] hotmail [dot] com

Friday, January 21, 2005

GENDERED LANGUAGE

The grammarians say that English isn’t a gendered language, but the socio-linguists know better.

Everybody knows, animals are “he” until proven otherwise. Go to a zoo some time and listen to how people talk.  In children’s books too, animals are usually “he.”  Except sometimes mice.  And hippos.  Don’t ask me why.

I enjoy being a boy, but sometimes I envy the freedom of middle aged diner waitresses who can call everybody “honey” or “sweetie.”  There are times when I want to call everybody “honey” or “sweetie” too.


Comments:
Beauregard in the comic strip Pogo: "I thought all cats were girls."
 
That's one of the nicest things in "The Odd Couple," Oscar calling Felix (and every other man) "honey," "sweetie," and other non-masculine terms of endearment.
 
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