Uncombatively, I assure you, and laden with many (understood, implicit)
smileys, I ask: Is _masterclass_ too gendered?
This from a dictionary - forget which, but a biggie: "Master has been a
productive source of compounds in English, evidenced by words such as
masterpiece, concertmaster, mastermind, and masterstroke, to name just a
few. It is also used frequently on its own as a noun, verb, and adjective,
with meanings ranging from "an original document that is to be copied" to "a
man who serves as the head of a household." The latter sense lends the word
masculine connotations, which, along with the word's associations with the
institutions of slavery, causes some people to be offended by the use of
master in any form. Nonetheless, many senses of master, such as the noun
sense "an expert" and the verb sense "to make oneself an expert at," have
long been thought of as gender-neutral and are in wide use. Some compounds,
like masterpiece and master plan, have lost most, if not all, of their
associations with maleness. They exist as distinct words, and people do not
usually think of them as a combination of parts each containing a different
meaning."
I note that for some years, acors who are women have called themselves
_actors_; and the term _actor_ is fast becoming as ungendered as _teacher_.
That is, they have just ignored _actress_, which could become archaic over
time...
Couldn't this be seen as similar? After all, I doubt that _mistress_ is much
in demand now as an appellation, outside of all but one industry
For sure, there is more gender overtone to _master_ than to _actor_, but it
is getting faint; and here it *is in a compound, a compound which includes
the connotation of _mastery_ (which, for me, is no more gendered than
_blimey_ is blasphemous)
I was reading a story from early in the 20th century during the last few
days, in which the sentence "Who's wearing the trousers in that house?"
occurred. Nowadays that might require a footnote because its assumptions
have been rendered false by changes in fashion and employment and one hardly
hears it
Where there are gender-free words, such as _facilitator_, let's use them;
but here, as you have found, there is no such word
Does this now-historical connotation really matter, especially when *you are
taking a leading role in these matters? When I hear _masterclass_ I don't
assume it will be a class taken by a man, just as I do not assume that you
are torturing yourself when you say you have been racking your brains.
Ideas -
If it were virtual, I might suggest CLEVERBLOGS
but try _experTEACH_ (note the embedded democratic _each_) and _virtuosIT_
or even _expertEACH_
L
-----Original Message-----
From: Sue Thomas <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:43 AM
Subject: [WDL] masterclass or....?
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