Do you ever wonder how biased the English language is to men?
Take for example an unmarried man of 50 years old. We use the word single or bachelor to describe him. Right? Such decent and dignified words. lol
But if it´s a woman, the only word available to label her status is single. Unless, we will count spinster and old maid... which frankly, do not even come close to decent, dignified bachelor.
Here's a thought. Imagine a society where unmarried women could have more than one live-in partner. How will we label her?
Single?
I'm not so sure...
Spinster?
Only if she is tied to a spinning wheel, and far from her Cassanovas. lol
Old maid?
In this age, 50 is the new 30 they say. Calling a 50-year-old unmarried woman, an old maid is rather inappropriate, don't you agree? LOL
Virgin?
Nice try!
So much for labeling. HAHAHAHAHAHA Again, this is one reason why I don't like labels. It's too restricted. Too plain. Too biased! I mean, really.....!
19 comments:
hey, I thought bachelorette was a word..or is it just the name of a reality tv series....;)
Ay totoo ini. Kun minsan, nangalas pa ako kay in this day & age, igwa pagihapon mga irog sana na labels.
And the behavior expected of us! Kun ma-hire lalaki, dapat Hardworking. Kun babayi, dapat with PLEASING personality, acheche!
hahaha!! anano an nag-prompt sadi na musings mo? ~~grin~~
@thamarai: Yes, bachelorette is a word. lol But it only pertains to young unmarried woman (emphasis on young). lol
I was talking about middle aged unmarried word. How come we don't have a decent word to describe her? hehehehe
unmarried woman (not word)
@buday: trulily, dear! kaya, balyuhan na ini na mga labels na ini. HAHAHAHA
Alagad an PLEASING personality, maka iinit talaga sa ulo. Pwede ko siguro gamiton an EHODEF mo didi. ano, ha? HAHAHAAHAHA
@Cherie: Nothing iin particular. Mahilig talaga ako mag isip isip sin mga irog sadi na bagay bagay. It keeps my brain busy! HAHAHAHAHAHA
Well, I definitely think that "spinster" is one word that has fallen out of use! Unless you want to be mean, or sarcastic or plain mean when you refer to a woman who is not in a relationship or is not spoken for - how about that expression? :o)
I totally agree, actually I first came across the word only in the reality tv series...we hardly use the word otherwise...in fact we have the same argument in my own language sadly..:(
@Aledys: Well, you will be surprised. Some people still refer to unmarried middle-aged women as spinster to mean that they are not promiscuous.
´Not Spoken for´ sounds to me like someone who is not yet engaged, and it's not an adjective like the word bachelor. lol
@thamarai: Really? And what would that be? I mean, your language? :)
I am proud to say that we have a word for it in our language (we say, `daraga´). I haven´t even thought about it before, until now, because you brought it up. ;)
How about available?
I am clueless... or may be i never thought about it !!
Hmmm ... let me think...
still clueless :o/
@Whitemist: I don´t know... It sort of leaves a bad taste. But it is possible. :)
BTW, good to see you again.
@Lopa: LOL .... yeah, right! LOL
If you allow me to elaborate...
If you take the sexually connotation out of the word (which is what I did) you get the following.
A married man/woman usually does not get to go "out" with a married opposite sex person. An available man/woman can - go out for coffee or a movie or shopping. It does not mean anymore than that.
I fortunately am an "available" man and have many woman friends (yes friends). So besides my regular life commitments, i can go out to lunch with them just because. To me it means nothing more.
i was going to say "bachelorette" but other than tending toward the youngish, wara man gihapon originality kay hali man gihapon sa "bachelor." or maybe it's one of the language's biases: since Eve was supposedly taken from Adam, di hali man ngaya an "bachelorette" sa "bachelor."
BTW, did we ever call Ms. Babasa "old maid?" Bagan dili man ha? :p
@Whitemist: Point taken! ;)
So how does it work?
`She is available and is available to go out anytime.´ ??? LOL
compare that with this:
`He is a bachelor and is available to go out anytime.´
lol I´m just playing with words now. HAHAHAAHA
@Anna: All right, so it is language´s biases. But language being dynamic, why can´t linguists come up with a new word now? It has been more than a century since the first women suffrage. Lain amo? hehehe
No, we did not call her old maid. Pan-o ta man masabi na old maid na she is practically our age now when we were in highschool! Di pa man kita gurang! HAHAHAHAHA
Post a Comment