travis@douglass.cs.columbia.EDU (Travis Lee Winfrey) (11/09/89)
In article <28959@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> angie@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (angela allen) writes: >>Webster dates first usage of "feminism" in writing at 1970. Careful when you say "Webster." It's not a copyrightable name, so anyone can staple two sheets of paper together and call it a dictionary. >>Now, would that be defined as a change in the language? Absolutely. Just wait for usages like, ``In baseball, the first batter in the lineup is mainly expected to get on first base. Once on first, he or she may try to steal second, or wait for a teammate to get a base hit.'' In article <60622@aerospace.AERO.ORG> nadel@aerospace.aero.org (Miriam H. Nadel) writes: >I am almost positive that the word "feminism" was in use well before >1970. ... I'll have to look back to see if she ever used the word >"feminist" but I'm fairly sure it was in use by the late 19th >century. Yes, Miriam-Webster's Ninth Collegiate has 1895 as the first usage, with no details. If it was not in a usage by one of the authors you cite, then it was probably in connection with the suffrage movement. (I have no OED lying around the house, alas.) >A more significant change in the language would be the change in journalistic >standards for referring to women. No major U.S. newspaper rejects the >"Ms." usage anymore, but I consider the real sign of progress to be the >NY Times standard which no longer uses titles for women while referring to >men by last name only. (The first reference, of course, is by full name. >All subsequent references are by last name alone for both men and women.) Sure, or when politicians reflexively say "he or she", as I heard just yesterday's in George "Poppy" Bush's press conference and in David Dinkin's acceptance speech. t Arpa: travis@cs.columbia.edu Usenet: rutgers!columbia!travis
helen@zen.co.uk (Helen Grayson) (11/10/89)
In article <60622@aerospace.AERO.ORG> nadel@aerospace.aero.org (Miriam H. Nadel) writes: > >I am almost positive that the word "feminism" was in use well before 1970. >The earliest written work considered "feminist" is Mary Wollstonecraft's >_A Vindication of the Rights of Women_, which was published in the 18th >century. [Yes, she also wrote _A Vindication of the Rights of Men_, for those >who think feminism has nothing to do with men's rights]. I'll have >to look back to see if she ever used the word "feminist" but I'm fairly >sure it was in use by the late 19th century. I've read _Vindication of the Rights of Woman_ (twice!) and I'm pretty sure that Wollstonecraft never used the word `feminism'. [I went back and checked. She didn't. But two other people have cited the OED as a reference for usage around the end of the 19th century. - MHN] Btw, some of the points she makes (if you can find them in the verbiage) are still very relevant (and some, alas, unresolved), particularly the complaint that women are expected to be beautiful and decorative, and then get slagged off for spending all their time fixing their hair and talking about clothes. Helen.