This week was the majority of the Ks, and there were an impressive amount of units-things. If your country's coinage or measurements of length or power don't start with a K, you ain't kool, yo!
But there was also another sad reminder this week of how our language reflects the sexism of the ages: the dictionary shows kingside (a part of a chessboard) but not queenside (also a part of the chessboard!). While I was willing to believe that -woman suffixes were largely excised because of the 8-letter rule, today I saw kidnapping, which is a full 10 letters. Boo! Hiss! Not sure how a present participle of a criminal act trumps the inclusion of 50% of the population. It's strange to have a dictionary that cuts out many equivalent female-gendered words because of the letter restriction.
But there was also another sad reminder this week of how our language reflects the sexism of the ages: the dictionary shows kingside (a part of a chessboard) but not queenside (also a part of the chessboard!). While I was willing to believe that -woman suffixes were largely excised because of the 8-letter rule, today I saw kidnapping, which is a full 10 letters. Boo! Hiss! Not sure how a present participle of a criminal act trumps the inclusion of 50% of the population. It's strange to have a dictionary that cuts out many equivalent female-gendered words because of the letter restriction.
But beyond the 8-letter restriction, there are overwhelmingly more -man and -boy suffixes that have no balanced -woman and -girl words (for example, there's ladhood but no lasshood this week, and lasshood falls within the 8-letter range). I recognize that this is not OSPD's "fault." It's the cultural inertia of the ages. But I think we could all do a little bit better in having inclusive language. White space speaks volumes, even in the Scrabble dictionary.
But we're getting there. It is definitely NOT acceptable anymore to use the generic masculine pronoun "he" to represent all people, everywhere. "Humankind" is replacing "mankind." "Police officer" is replacing "policeman." And so on. It just takes some awareness (educate yourself!) and reframing. Don't use gender markers unless they're necessary. The LGBTQ community would appreciate that as well, I wager. And maybe someday English will get with the program and decide on a gender-neutral pronoun so we can stop all this unnecessary gender assignment when there is no need to do so, when the context doesn't even call for it. We just have to agree on a pronoun and go for it.
More examples of the white space I'm talking about, the lost herwords of herstory: "Avuncular" means "an uncle-like relationship" but there is no word for an aunt-like relationship (people have suggested "amital"—"amita" is "father's sister" so it's not perfect). Of course, there are PLENTY of words for a female prostitute, and plenty of derogatory terms in general specifically aimed at women and girls that far exceed those specifically aimed at men.
I think the worst one so far is "jailbait"—"a girl under the age of consent with whom sexual intercourse constitutes statutory rape." Why is this in the Scrabble Dictionary?! And, God forbid that boys suffer this too, but why are only girls jailbait? To me this word sums up how sexism gets passed down through the ages so easily: with extra derogatory terms for women and fewer terms denoting empowering occupations for women. It's carved in of our very language—and dictionaries like the Scrabble Dictionary keep it that way. We're not the only ones whose worldview on gender is affected by language: things that are assigned gender in other languages (German and Russian, for example; see the study here) tend to make those speakers think of men and women in terms of the qualities of those objects.
Religion also doesn't help—traditionally, Eve was a subset of Adam, made from his rib. Fortunately, more and more people are questioning this event and its sexist implication: that woman was made for man, is man's object.
I am not an object, a decoration, a service, or property. And my language will reflect that. I hope yours will too.
But we're getting there. It is definitely NOT acceptable anymore to use the generic masculine pronoun "he" to represent all people, everywhere. "Humankind" is replacing "mankind." "Police officer" is replacing "policeman." And so on. It just takes some awareness (educate yourself!) and reframing. Don't use gender markers unless they're necessary. The LGBTQ community would appreciate that as well, I wager. And maybe someday English will get with the program and decide on a gender-neutral pronoun so we can stop all this unnecessary gender assignment when there is no need to do so, when the context doesn't even call for it. We just have to agree on a pronoun and go for it.
More examples of the white space I'm talking about, the lost herwords of herstory: "Avuncular" means "an uncle-like relationship" but there is no word for an aunt-like relationship (people have suggested "amital"—"amita" is "father's sister" so it's not perfect). Of course, there are PLENTY of words for a female prostitute, and plenty of derogatory terms in general specifically aimed at women and girls that far exceed those specifically aimed at men.
I think the worst one so far is "jailbait"—"a girl under the age of consent with whom sexual intercourse constitutes statutory rape." Why is this in the Scrabble Dictionary?! And, God forbid that boys suffer this too, but why are only girls jailbait? To me this word sums up how sexism gets passed down through the ages so easily: with extra derogatory terms for women and fewer terms denoting empowering occupations for women. It's carved in of our very language—and dictionaries like the Scrabble Dictionary keep it that way. We're not the only ones whose worldview on gender is affected by language: things that are assigned gender in other languages (German and Russian, for example; see the study here) tend to make those speakers think of men and women in terms of the qualities of those objects.
Religion also doesn't help—traditionally, Eve was a subset of Adam, made from his rib. Fortunately, more and more people are questioning this event and its sexist implication: that woman was made for man, is man's object.
I am not an object, a decoration, a service, or property. And my language will reflect that. I hope yours will too.
⚛ Units of the Week (Special K edition!)
Kantar: a unit of weight
Kaon: a type of meson
Kappa: a Greek letter (have I included one Greek letter here yet as a representative? No? Well, here it is)
Karat: a unit of quality for gold
Kbar: a kilobar
Kelvin: a unit of temperature
Khoum: a monetary unit of Mauritania
Kilo: a kilogram or kilometer
Kilobar: a unit of atmospheric pressure
Kilobase: unit of measure of a nucleic-acid chain
Kilobaud: a unit of data transmission speed
Kilobit: a unit of computer information
Kilobyte: 1,024 bytes
Kilogram: a unit of mass and weight
Kilomole: one thousand moles
Kilorad: a unit of nuclear radiation
Kiloton: a unit of weight
Kilovolt: a unit of electromotive force
Kilowatt: a unit of power
Kina: a monetary unit of Papua New Guinea
Klick: a kilometer
Kobo: a monetary unit of Nigeria
Kopeck: a Russian coin
Kopiyka: a monetary unit of Ukraine
Kor: a Hebrew unit of measure
Koruna: a monetary unit of the Czech Republic
Kos: a land measure in India
Kreutzer: a former monetary unit of Austria
Krona: a monetary unit of Sweden
Krona: a monetary unit of Iceland
Krone: a former monetary unit of Austria
Krone: a monetary unit of Denmark
Kroon: a former monetary unit of Estonia
Kuna: a monetary unit of Croatia
Kwacha: a monetary unit of Malawi and Zambia
Kwanza: a monetary unit of Angola
Kyat: a monetary unit of Myanmar
Kymogram: a record of fluid pressure
Laari/lari: a monetary unit of the Maldives
Lakh: the sum of one hundred thousand
Lambert: a unit of brightness
Langley: a unit of illumination
!!! Unexpected Words of the Week
Keddah: an enclosure for elephants
Kegler: a bowler
Keister/keester/keyster/kiester: the buttocks (a popular term)
Keitloa: a rhinoceros
Kiaugh: trouble; worry
Kicky: exciting
Klavern: a local branch of the Ku Klux Klan
Kleagle: an official in the Ku Klux Klan
Klepht: a Greek guerrilla
Kneesies: the pressing of one's knees against another person's knees
Kob: a reddish brown antelope (Antelope alert!)
Kobold: an elf
Kudu: a large antelope (More antelope alert!)
Kulak: a rich Russian peasant (a rich . . . peasant?)
Kurbash: to flog with a leather whip (ouch)
Kye: a private Korean-American banking club
Kyte: the stomach
Laetrile: a drug derived from apricot pits (wow, creative)
Lagnappe: a small gift given to a customer with his purchase (IGA here in Montreal does this all the time, as long as you spend over $75 . . .)
Laitance: a milky deposit on the surface of fresh concrete (why?)
Laky: of the color of blood (what!)
Landau: a type of carriage (Carriage alert!)
Lapidate: to hurl stones at
♡ Favorite Words of the Week
Kenning: a metaphorical compound word or phrase (I love kennings! Here's a list, although "girl of the houses" (a wife) makes me frown. Much better is "bane of wood" (fire) and "sea-steed" (a ship) and lots of others that mean gold or blood)
Keyway: a slot for a key
Khamsin: a hot, dry wind
Kist: a chest, box, or coffin
Kithe: to make known
Kitsch: faddish art or literature
Kurgan: a mound of earth over a grave
Lahar: a flowing mass of volcanic debris
Lamia: a female demon
Lamster: a fugitive
Lanosity: the state of being lanose (covered with wool)
Kantar: a unit of weight
Kaon: a type of meson
Kappa: a Greek letter (have I included one Greek letter here yet as a representative? No? Well, here it is)
Karat: a unit of quality for gold
Kbar: a kilobar
Kelvin: a unit of temperature
Khoum: a monetary unit of Mauritania
Kilo: a kilogram or kilometer
Kilobar: a unit of atmospheric pressure
Kilobase: unit of measure of a nucleic-acid chain
Kilobaud: a unit of data transmission speed
Kilobit: a unit of computer information
Kilobyte: 1,024 bytes
Kilogram: a unit of mass and weight
Kilomole: one thousand moles
Kilorad: a unit of nuclear radiation
Kiloton: a unit of weight
Kilovolt: a unit of electromotive force
Kilowatt: a unit of power
Kina: a monetary unit of Papua New Guinea
Klick: a kilometer
Kobo: a monetary unit of Nigeria
Kopeck: a Russian coin
Kopiyka: a monetary unit of Ukraine
Kor: a Hebrew unit of measure
Koruna: a monetary unit of the Czech Republic
Kos: a land measure in India
Kreutzer: a former monetary unit of Austria
Krona: a monetary unit of Sweden
Krona: a monetary unit of Iceland
Krone: a former monetary unit of Austria
Krone: a monetary unit of Denmark
Kroon: a former monetary unit of Estonia
Kuna: a monetary unit of Croatia
Kwacha: a monetary unit of Malawi and Zambia
Kwanza: a monetary unit of Angola
Kyat: a monetary unit of Myanmar
Kymogram: a record of fluid pressure
Laari/lari: a monetary unit of the Maldives
Lakh: the sum of one hundred thousand
Lambert: a unit of brightness
Langley: a unit of illumination
!!! Unexpected Words of the Week
Keddah: an enclosure for elephants
Kegler: a bowler
Keister/keester/keyster/kiester: the buttocks (a popular term)
Keitloa: a rhinoceros
Kiaugh: trouble; worry
Kicky: exciting
Klavern: a local branch of the Ku Klux Klan
Kleagle: an official in the Ku Klux Klan
Klepht: a Greek guerrilla
Kneesies: the pressing of one's knees against another person's knees
Kob: a reddish brown antelope (Antelope alert!)
Kobold: an elf
Kudu: a large antelope (More antelope alert!)
Kulak: a rich Russian peasant (a rich . . . peasant?)
Kurbash: to flog with a leather whip (ouch)
Kye: a private Korean-American banking club
Kyte: the stomach
Laetrile: a drug derived from apricot pits (wow, creative)
Lagnappe: a small gift given to a customer with his purchase (IGA here in Montreal does this all the time, as long as you spend over $75 . . .)
Laitance: a milky deposit on the surface of fresh concrete (why?)
Laky: of the color of blood (what!)
Landau: a type of carriage (Carriage alert!)
Lapidate: to hurl stones at
♡ Favorite Words of the Week
Kenning: a metaphorical compound word or phrase (I love kennings! Here's a list, although "girl of the houses" (a wife) makes me frown. Much better is "bane of wood" (fire) and "sea-steed" (a ship) and lots of others that mean gold or blood)
Keyway: a slot for a key
Khamsin: a hot, dry wind
Kist: a chest, box, or coffin
Kithe: to make known
Kitsch: faddish art or literature
Kurgan: a mound of earth over a grave
Lahar: a flowing mass of volcanic debris
Lamia: a female demon
Lamster: a fugitive
Lanosity: the state of being lanose (covered with wool)
(Pages 295–308)