iddewes (iddewes) wrote in linguaphiles,
iddewes
iddewes
linguaphiles

Sexist titles

Had a discussion on my own blog with some friends about titles for women in English. It has always been a bugbear of mine that in English the titles Mrs and Miss still exist officially whilst there is no real equivalent for men now (no one uses Master anymore). I think it maybe annoyed me more because I married later in life so was under the 'Miss' bracket for a long time, and it made me feel like a maiden aunt, so I have used Ms whenever possible (and it's only the odd bank and similar prehistoric institutions that insist on your being Miss or Mrs nowadays in the UK). I am now living in Germany and very pleased that Germany officially got rid of Fräulein, the equivalent of Miss. (Though someone said they kept it for kindergarten teachers?) Just wondering if people know of languages that DON'T have this distinction? I do know for example that Polish only has male vs female titles and that Russian does not generally use titles at all. Are there any languages that also don't differentiate between male or female in the titles? (a queer friend of mine was talking about that...).
And yes, obviously in English if you are a Doctor or a Rabbi or Reverend or something like that, there is no distinction between male or female ;) is that the same in other languages too? well other than I know German has Frau Doktor...
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  • 129 comments

  • Interpretation of the Legend

    (inscriptions on the Kushan Kingdom coins / надписи на монетах Кушанского царства)

  • Spanish query

    I would be most grateful if anyone could help me out with a Spanish idiom, an expression appearing in a discussion of torture from the late 18th…

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…