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From: vicki@mathcs.emory.EDU (Vicki Powers)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Girl == woman & man == boy ? (was: Re: Girls, girls, girls)
Message-ID: <6321@emory.mathcs.emory.edu>
Date: 20 Sep 90 18:03:50 GMT
References: <27089@usc.edu> <1990Sep18.012351.27167@agate.berkeley.edu> <13386@netcom.UUCP>
Reply-To: vicki@mathcs.emory.EDU
Organization: Math & Computer Science, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
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In article <13386@netcom.UUCP>, chrisj@netcom.UUCP writes:

> John is exactly right about Maedchen, which BTW is a diminutive made
> from the root noun Magd (maid).  The other standard word for `girl'
> in German is Fraeulein, which is also a diminutive (of Frau).  Just
> to confuse things, I'll mention that the formal address to a married
> woman is Frau Schmidt, and to an unmarried woman or to a girl is
> Fraeulein Schmidt, so that one cannot formally greet an unmarried woman
> without calling her ``little woman'' or ``girl''!  Not having kept up
> with developments in the German language since I graduated in 1969, I
> cannot say whether the Germans have developed a greeting analogous to
> Ms, but I believe they have not.



Actually, they have in a way developed an equivalent of Ms.:  nowadays,
all women are Frau, regardless of marital status.  Fraulein is really
the equivalent of "girl", used for those of the female sex who are
age 12 or less (approximately).  Note:  I am not a native German speaker,
but have lived in Germany and have taken German lessons from native
German speakers.


  Vicki




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