Re: Umlauts (was Re: Elves and Ill Bethisad)

--- Christophe Grandsire skrzypszy:

>Because French feminists insist!!!
>
>And I'm not even kidding! :)))
No, but it's funny anyway!

>forms: one masculine and one feminine. So nowadays we have "mairesses"
>(female mayors),
Haha, in Dutch that would be: "burgemeesteres". No, that definitely sounds
as if she was involved in some kind of SM activity!

"députées" (female MPs),

This one seems quite reasonable to me.

> "ministres" used with a feminine article, etc... while those nouns used
> to exist only in the masculine.
Well, good for us that we at least don't make the distinction between
masculine and feminine articles.

> But it's true that "madame _le_ ministre" sounds strange :)) .
On the other hand, my grandmother used to be addressed as "Mevrouw de
Voorzitter" ("Mrs. Chairman"), while the true feminine form would have
been "voorzitster". But perhaps that way of addressing is old-fashioned
now. She also got letters addressed to "Dhr. ..." (Mr.); first I thought
they had just been mistaken, but then I was explained that it was quite
normal to express your respect to a woman that way.

>In Dutch, they did exactly the contrary: they kept only one form for such
>nouns, the most commonly used. So nowadays they have male "secretaresse"
>(secretary), with the typically female -esse ending :)) .
That sounds véry peculiar to me. No, I'm afraid I disgree. Although it is
true that the male form, "secretaris", has different connotations
(secretary of an organisation, not of one person).

>I guess each way has its limits and stupidities :)) .
Agreed!

Jan

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