h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Gender Agreements In English - A1100179
Author: Uncle Heavy - U129295

this is a silly and pedantic subject.

Does what it says on the tin Rather short perhaps, but if that's all there is to be said on the subject why pad it out a bunch of waffle?


Scout

precisely. why does it need to be longer?

Hi,

Where you use the French "Une Bouche" as an example, you do not explain why this is an example - this would only make sense if you speak French (or another gender based language). Maybe if you gave a different example, e.g Un Chien/Une Chienne (if my memory of French serves me correct) to illustrate the difference.

If not, maybe just add another sentance saying that "une" is the feminine version of "the" and female items, in French, always end in the lettert "e" (assuming that is the rule - can't remember myself ).

- NC

Something about this entry makes me rather uneasy - maybe it's that you say that there are almost no gender agreements now but you don't say what they were in Old English. The one odd example appears to have come from French, and it seems to be just a fluke that this particular word retained the /e ending when it was assimilated into English. At the moment, soigné / soignée still has the same difference, but it's only half-assimilated into English.

Azara

(gets out his Old English Grammar to brush up on gender agreement)

I'm uneasy because now I suspect Azara is going to ask me for clarification on Old English gender agreement. I found that the entry wasn't really about "Gender Agreement in English" - it's about "The Absence of Gender Agreement in English".

And, perhaps I'm a little naif, but doesn't the Oxford English Dictionary have at least one other example of British Franglais similar to "blond/blonde"?

Actually, the gendered endings were well on the way to invisibility by the Old English period. Here are links for strong and weak adjectives:


http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/engl401/grammar/sadj.htm
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/engl401/grammar/wadj.htm

The situation with adjectival endings is a little oversimplified in these links, but not on the gender front.

im just going on what ive been told. blond is an established english word, one that no longer counts as an assimilation in quite the same way as soigne, but i could add a paragraph about those as well

Maybe I'm naive, but wouldn't a more fitting title be something like "blond and blonde in English" or "grammatically blond(e)" or "blonde on blond" or "the dark roots of blond(e) in English" or . . .

you get my point

that would certainly make the article sound more interesting than it really is...

Have we reached a plateau? Can we squeeze anything else out of this pithy offering? Is it ready yet?

do you reckon i should change the title?

Gender Benders? Or how about, The Role of Gender In English Grammar? But that's also a bit misleading, for as you say, blond and blonde is the only example of this role. Mmmm... your call UH!

I reckon this is ready.

I quite liked anhaga's suggestion of "The Dark Roots of Blond(e) in English", for whatever that's worth...

Excellent

bling bling.

done that

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I especially like the title

considering you suggested it

I really do like the entry; I just thought the original title didn't quite match what the entry is saying. I often find that titles around here don't quite match the content . . .