Blond/blonde

Sander   Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:14 pm GMT
I know that English has very little gender indicating words (such as 'woman' and 'man' or 'steward' and 'stewardess') nut maybe 'blonds' 'blondes' is such a word... maybe not
Terry   Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:31 pm GMT
<<I'm from California. How about you? >>

Florida, at the moment. I moved here to get away from the cold of New England and now I've got hurricanes. Oh well. There's no perfect place.
Terry   Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:40 pm GMT
<<Related question: What are your personal preferences for the following pairs? I've indicated mine by number:

dialog/dialogue (2)

catalog/catalogue (1-- note how that inexplicably differs from above)

esthetic/aesthetic (2)

archeology/archaeology (2, I guess I love those AE's!)

estrogen/oestrogen (1)

fetus/foetus (1 -- not such a big fan of the OE, apparently)>>

I prefer:

dialogue
catalog
aesthetic
archeology
estrogen
fetus

No idea why.
Uriel   Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:43 pm GMT
<<I know that English has very little gender indicating words (such as 'woman' and 'man' or 'steward' and 'stewardess') nut maybe 'blonds' 'blondes' is such a word... maybe not >>

True, and that's MY reasoning: any gender-agreement in spelling that WE impose on ourselves as English-speakers is an "imported" practice from a language that has them, rather than one that would happen naturally in English.

I wonder if British-English-speakers like Damian are more sensitive to "proper" gender agreement than others, since they tend to have more exposure to French? For me, i KNOW that in French the final E indicates femininity, but it doesn't bother me as much to ignore that fact.

I have the same problem with brunet/brunette. The former word is one that I've only seen rarely used, and I don't particularly "like" it. I am more comfortable writing "brunette" and I don't care too much about gender assignment.
Damian without an E   Mon Dec 05, 2005 5:07 pm GMT
You are right, Uriel......the "e" in thse words does indicate femininity to my way of thinking and I like it. It's similar to the situation of so many female names ending in an "a": Angela, Sandra, Gloria etc. A male name ending in an "a" (in English anyway) is very rare. I cannae think of one right now.

But back to "blondes" and "blonds" ...."blonde" just oozes femininity and when you see the word you immediately visualise a female (other attributes pertaining to the lady sort of come to mind as well but let's not go there right now). Blond, on the other hand, instantly conjures up a bloke...a guy, a male...with a mop of fair hair...or neatly cropped like Brad. There is a politician here in the UK called Boris Johnson who has one of the most famous mops of truly fair hair in Britain....a very flamboyant, very extrovertly masculine guy (he went to Eton!) who would not take kindly to being called a blonde.

Because we are physically close to France here in the UK, Uriel, doesn't mean we are "exposed" to French, any more than any other Continental Language. Well, not up here anyway....maybe its different down in Kent, in Southern England, the coast of which is literally within sight of France. That is part of the beauty of the French Language though....the gender bit. At least you kow where you stand in French when it comes to matters of the right gender use and distinction, without the rather sterile neutrality of English!

Me Blond! You Blonde! Vive la difference...... :-)