Ten things NOT to do in Italy
Jan 7th, 2015, 03:11 PM
#162
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"An amusing situation will result if Hillary Clinton is elected President. The wife of a President was commonly called The First Lady, will d be Bill be called The First Man? Sounds more like a reference to Adam."
To truly match "The First Lady" as a title, he'd be called "The First Gentleman."
To truly match "The First Lady" as a title, he'd be called "The First Gentleman."
Jan 7th, 2015, 03:31 PM
#163
On the subject of women changing their names upon marriage, I kept my name when I married in 1979 and I assumed women would keep their own names forever after. But my own daughter changed her name to her husband's when she got married four years ago, and all her friends have done the same. You can identify those of us who kept our names as part of a very small demographic by age and education and perhaps geography. My daughters also refer to themselves and their friends as girls in their twenties and early thirties, while I battled against the custom, common when I started practicing law, of a lawyer telling another, "I'll have my girl call your girl."
This bothered me until I started thinking of it as freedom. My daughters and their generation have the right to call themselves whatever they want. They do not encounter the "my girl will call your girl" attitude, which has gone the way of the dodo bird.
I have never cared about gender neutral job descriptions, and I was happy enough to be chairman of the debate club. I see no problem being part of mankind and can accept "man" as a category that includes both genders.
This bothered me until I started thinking of it as freedom. My daughters and their generation have the right to call themselves whatever they want. They do not encounter the "my girl will call your girl" attitude, which has gone the way of the dodo bird.
I have never cared about gender neutral job descriptions, and I was happy enough to be chairman of the debate club. I see no problem being part of mankind and can accept "man" as a category that includes both genders.
Jan 7th, 2015, 08:17 PM
#164
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annhig: I reported the comment which was removed. It was addressed directly to me and I found it distasteful.
This is all terribly terribly sad. The English language may still be robust but it is losing some of its variety purely for reasons of political correctness (but then, that's only a man's opinion).
"Soprano" is/was an adjective qualifying the masculine word "canto" (song, tune). So you can correctly say "she sings soprano" but not "she is a soprano" even though that happens. In any case in the Middle Ages it was the men who sang soprano and contralto, as in "castrato".
As I said above, while Anglo-Saxon nations are going for standardization of the language, in Italy they are racking their brains to invent new gender-specific terms. This is my last one: "Bishop" = "vescovo". Now, in the UK the first female Bishop has recently been consecrated. The Italian press are calling her "la vescova".
I'll say no more on this topic.
This is all terribly terribly sad. The English language may still be robust but it is losing some of its variety purely for reasons of political correctness (but then, that's only a man's opinion).
"Soprano" is/was an adjective qualifying the masculine word "canto" (song, tune). So you can correctly say "she sings soprano" but not "she is a soprano" even though that happens. In any case in the Middle Ages it was the men who sang soprano and contralto, as in "castrato".
As I said above, while Anglo-Saxon nations are going for standardization of the language, in Italy they are racking their brains to invent new gender-specific terms. This is my last one: "Bishop" = "vescovo". Now, in the UK the first female Bishop has recently been consecrated. The Italian press are calling her "la vescova".
I'll say no more on this topic.
Jan 7th, 2015, 10:11 PM
#165
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Women say, "I am going out with the girls." I think it is inflection, tone, and the intention of certain words and the speaker.
I had a friend who is a lawyer, and a very good friend, refer to herself as a bitch. I told her that excuses poor behavior and allows her very bright daughter to think of herself in the wrong terms. That is not being politically correct, that is building self-esteem. I just hate it when young woman, say something like "Hello bitches." I know they think they are being hip and independent, but there are other ways.
I had a friend who is a lawyer, and a very good friend, refer to herself as a bitch. I told her that excuses poor behavior and allows her very bright daughter to think of herself in the wrong terms. That is not being politically correct, that is building self-esteem. I just hate it when young woman, say something like "Hello bitches." I know they think they are being hip and independent, but there are other ways.
Jan 8th, 2015, 12:49 AM
#166
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....
An amusing situation will result if Hillary Clinton is elected President. The wife of a President was commonly called The First Lady, will d be Bill be called The First Man? Sounds more like a reference to Adam.....
I've heard him say that he will be known as "The First Laddie".
An amusing situation will result if Hillary Clinton is elected President. The wife of a President was commonly called The First Lady, will d be Bill be called The First Man? Sounds more like a reference to Adam.....
I've heard him say that he will be known as "The First Laddie".
Jan 8th, 2015, 01:31 AM
#167
annhig: I reported the comment which was removed. It was addressed directly to me and I found it distasteful.>>
well, i certainly didn't intend it to be "distasteful" Appia - I thought you might enjoy the word play. is your finding something distasteful good enough to have it removed? in the context of what happened yesterday in Paris I would hope not. Better to mention it, and move on, I would have thought.
>
quite right too, IMO.
>
why on earth stop?
IMDonhere - I agree about women describing themselves in that way. [don't want to give offence by repeating it]. It encourages some men, young ones especially to think that it's acceptable and young women to tolerate it.
well, i certainly didn't intend it to be "distasteful" Appia - I thought you might enjoy the word play. is your finding something distasteful good enough to have it removed? in the context of what happened yesterday in Paris I would hope not. Better to mention it, and move on, I would have thought.
>
quite right too, IMO.
>
why on earth stop?
IMDonhere - I agree about women describing themselves in that way. [don't want to give offence by repeating it]. It encourages some men, young ones especially to think that it's acceptable and young women to tolerate it.
Jan 8th, 2015, 08:49 AM
#168
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Well, exactly. What I find distasteful is the very notion that one's being offended means a fig, to anyone, anywhere. There is no right not to be offended, and certainly to bring one's delicate sensibilities to a public forum on the Internet and expect them to be catered to is absurd.
<Women say, "I am going out with the girls.">
I don't, but then I think I'm the same generation, approximately, as Nikki, and share her distaste for the term when applied to adults. It's funny that women much older then I AND women much younger than I now use it that way all the time.
Me, too. It just strikes me as disrespectful, and also dated and tacky, the posing as a thug.
I guess I hate humorlessness more. Bad grammar bothers me more than stylistic choices in language.
