Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero-c!nadel From: panix!mara@cmcl2.NYU.EDU (Mara Chibnik) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: synonyms Message-ID: <1991May23.133656.6117@panix.uucp> Date: 23 May 91 13:36:56 GMT References: Sender: news@aero.org Organization: (getting there) Lines: 101 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org >From Alex Matulich: > Degrading or not, the function of a thesaurus is to provide synonyms for > words, and regrettably, those synonyms you found are indeed words used to > describe women on occasion. ... > (If one is talking about women who *are* gold-diggers, > (If one is talking about women who *are* gold-diggers, > and such people do exist, then why not use the term?) In article mjm@ahimsa.intel.COM (Marjorie Panditji) writes: >I am a vegetarian. Should vegetarian be a synonym for woman? Some >men are rapists. Should rapist be a synonym for man? In my opinion, >the answer to both these questions is no. > >Similarly, the meaning of gold digger is quite different from the >meaning of woman (gold diggers are not necessarily women, and not all >women are gold diggers). I don't believe that people are saying the >term should not be used. They are saying that these terms are >inappropriate as synonyms. Ah, yes. But a thesaurus is a tool for finding a word. Under "virtue," for example (a not exactly random selection on my part, as I'll explain in a bit), I find listed: virtue, virtuousness, righteousness, goodness etc.; aretaics; "_mens sibi conscia recti_" (Vergil); morality, moral rectitude; merit, worth, excellence, value, credit, desert; cardinal virtues, prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice; well-doing, good behavior, well-spent life; integrity etc. (probity) and then a list of related possibilities: probity, innocence, purity, reputability, self-denial (temperance), self-control, courage, morals (ethics), piety Certainly I wouldn't assume that I could use these words interchangeably. (For extra credit, use "aretaics" in a sentence.) However, and this is how I happened to be just a page away from "virtue" in my thesaurus, it is enlightening to consider the entries under "Good Person": 1. good person, worthy, nature's nobleman, salt of the earth, Christian; white man, brick, trump [all slang]; gem, jewel, diamond, petal; flower, cream, _creme de la creme_ [F.]; one in a thousand _or_ ten thousand, a man among men; paragon, _chevalier sans peur et sans reproche [F.]; good example, exemplar, model, pattern, standard; hero, god, demigod; saint, angel, seraph; rough diamond, diamond in the rough; the good, the righteous; Galahad; honest man etc. [ref]; innocent etc. [ref]; philanthropist etc. [ref]; benefactor etc. [ref] 2. good woman, heaven's noblest gift, "a perfect woman, nobly planned" (Wordsworth), queen; goddess, demigoddess; virgin, vestal, vestal virgin, Madonna; Lucretia; Diana [Rom. Myth.], Artemis, Athena Parthenos [both Gr. Myth.]. (I use the notation [ref] where the thesaurus refers to numerical entries elsewhere in the volume; italics are designated by underscores only at either end of the entire expression, diacriticals are omitted.) I have the following comments. 1. The entries under #1 include some terms that distinguish by sex and some that do not. This is an example of the confusion that arises from our habit of defaulting to the masculine. Some of the #2 items are just mappings from masculine to feminine versions. (Which reminds me: I'm surprised not to see "prince" under #1.) 2. The list under #1 includes a number of obviously offensive entries. 3. The list under #2 consists of fourteen different entries. Two include the word "woman" and five are proper nouns. The list under #1 consists of thirty-six entries before the cross-references, of which three include the word "man" and one is a proper noun. A woman, but not a man (or a "generic person") is good if she hasn't had sex. Further observations I leave to your own amusement. But since it generated the discussion, I notice that "gold digger" appears under the category "Love-making, Endearment" in the following list: flirt, coquette, gold digger, vampire, vamp, male flirt, philanderer, phalnder; cake-eater, tea hound, lounge lizard. To my surprise, "gigolo" appears under "Libertine," a different category entirely, which gives separate lists of male and female "deviant sexuality." All of these from my venerable _Roget's International Thesaurus_, NY: Thoman Y. Crowell Company, copywright 1946 (!). My "new edition" was printed in 1961. -- cmcl2!panix!mara Mara Chibnik mara@dorsai.com Life is too important to be taken seriously.