harkins (05/03/83)
some folks thing there's another reason why two words, girl and women, exist separately: it's the difference between heifer and cow, ie, before or after attaining 'cowhood'. ernie harkins
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (12/02/83)
I tend to refer to a female student as a "girl" (as in, "There's
this girl in my class...") not in order to belittle her, but because
that's the female equivalent of the word I tend to use to refer to a
male student: "guy". I seem to have the following semantic categories:
(abstract) male female
(mature) man woman
(youthful) guy girl
(young) boy girl
Maybe there are deep sexist undercurrents in my mind which make the
last two categories collapse into the word "girl" while leaving "guy"
and "boy" distinct, but I really doubt it. I can't imagine myself
referring to anyone much older than typical college age as a "girl",
though, and if I heard someone refer to a group of older women as "the
girls" (other than in jest), then I imagine that my feminist hackles
would rise.
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Prentiss Riddle
{ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP