I have spent the latter part of the day musing on a few things, not the least of which being feminism. THIS IS NOT A THREAD ABOUT FEMINISM, though. Rather, it is a pondering about etymology of words in the English language, which I do occasionally. The word feminism comes from an old word that means to suckle. This is ironic because it is a gender role, and modern feminism tends to not pigeon-hole people to specific gender roles. What, then could be a more appropriate word that doesnt have a peculiar, ironic etymology? Perhaps ladyism? Nope, cant use that one because the word lady comes from an old word that means to knead bread, another gender role. Damn patrolingual languages! What about womanism, then? That one isnt too bad, except that it is actually etymologically redundant because it comes from two old words that mean female person and human person. Thats sort of like how people say ATM machine (automated teller machine machine). My search for a more etymologically satisfying word isnt over, but the struggle is real.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 00:29:59 +0000
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