A curious phenomenon I have observed: one of the commonest mis-spellings
among my students is to spell WOMAN as WOMEN. When I have taken them up on
this, they are very surprised to find the two words are different. Some say,
'I thought they were spelt the same, just pronounced differently.' I find it
extraordinary that a woman of 20 should be unable to spell what she is, but
the mistake is very widespread in Britain - I've come across it in London,
Southampton and Wales, and even noticed it recently in the Radio Times
(standards of proofreading seem to be dropping week by week). My guess is
that this is an odd by-product of feminism: perhaps the word appears in
print more often in the plural than the singular these days. Women are
encouraged to think of themselves collectively rather than as individuals.
Best wishes
Matthew
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Howard <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 04 February 2001 16:36
Subject: Re: I am woman, hear my voice...
>Helen,
>
>I liked the poem, but can't be having with the thesis.
>
>It might be worth noting that, in the UK at least, most poetry books are
>bought by women.
>
>I've had good poems rejected by magazines too. I imagine it's an
>experience shared by many people on this list. It doesn't just happen to
>women.
>
>Why does it always have to go along the lines of sex? I'd consider my
>voice to be affected by my age, upbringing, education, career, location,
>marital status, hair colour, and a whole lot of other things.
>
>Regards,
>--
>Peter
>
>http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/poetry/
>
|