----- Original Message -----
From: "Christophe Grandsire" <christophe.grandsire@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 8:44 PM
Subject: Re: Umlauts (was Re: Elves and Ill Bethisad)
> And I'm not even kidding! :))) Unlike English-speaking feminists (and for
> what I know Dutch-speaking ones), the French feminists are currently
> lobbying for what they call "féminisation des noms de profession", i.e.
> that every noun that describes someone having some activity should have
two
> forms: one masculine and one feminine. So nowadays we have "mairesses"
Just for fun, the present mayor of Willies (France, 59) is Monsieur
Mairesse.
> (female mayors), "députées" (female MPs), "ministres" used with a feminine
> article, etc... while those nouns used to exist only in the masculine. But
> it's true that "madame _le_ ministre" sounds strange :)) . So you can
> imagine how they would react if we got rid of a feminine form in writing,
> even when it's not pronounced. Of course, there are irreductible words:
how
> would you call a male "sage-femme"? (midwife) It has been decided: it
stays
> "sage-femme" :))) .
Why not "accoucheur"?
Or perhaps "sage-homme" :)