[net.women] derivation of terms

regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard) (05/28/85)

>>Uh, oh.  Then we'd better get rid of the word "woman".  It comes almost
>>directly from "wife (of) man", as if that's all that counts.

Smith and Miller, in _Words and Women_ maintain that "wif" was a word that
meant something like "caretaker", and cite the early usage of the word
for _both_ men and women.  It may have evolved to refer only to women
(i.e., your "wife (of) man") but it originally was a sexless term, according
to their research.  Does that mean "woman" really is defined as "caretaker
of men"?

zubbie@ihlpa.UUCP (Jeanette Zobjeck) (05/30/85)

> 
> for _both_ men and women.  It may have evolved to refer only to women
> (i.e., your "wife (of) man") but it originally was a sexless term, according
> to their research.  Does that mean "woman" really is defined as "caretaker
> of men"?

*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***

My ex-husband had that attitude strongly embedded in his personality

that is why he is my  EX-husband.

jeanette zobjeck

ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) (05/31/85)

>                    Does that mean "woman" really is defined as "caretaker
>of men"?

Yipes!  No wonder we have problems with this.

-- 
Ed Gould		    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146