Just listened to the latest episode of Rob Brydon’s podcast where he interviews his long-term friend Ruth Jones.
I thought this exchange at the start was interesting - they know.
Ruth: “It's a lovely intro. Very, very nice. It always makes me interested when people describe me as an actor, because I think of myself as an actress.
Rob: I am being very politically correct.
Ruth: You are, but I always correct people's political correctness when it comes to describing me as an actress.
Rob: I'd rather say actress. I would naturally say actress.
Ruth: Thank you. And it's funny because sometimes I've been introduced or I've read an introduction to something I've been doing and they've called me an actor. I said, oh no, I'm an actress.
And they go, well, no, it's our policy to call you an actor. I go, I know, but I identify as an actress.
Rob: Once you decide to identify, won't be tied anybody who gets, I identify as five foot 10.
Why is that funny? That's what I'm identifying as. How tall am I, Ruth?
Ruth: Oh, maybe you are five foot 10. Are you?
Rob: No, I'm five foot seven. Maybe five foot six and a half now. But I'm identifying as five foot 10.
So I'll ask you again, how tall am I?
Ruth: You're five foot 10.
Rob: Thank you. We're too old for all this, aren't we?
Ruth: Oh, I don't understand it. Anyway, you can't even talk about not understanding anything, can you? You just have to go, I'm old.
I can't hear very well now. So just leave me out of the conversation. Thank you.”
From Brydon &: Ruth Jones, 13 Jun 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brydon/id1687943454?i=1000658813656
This material may be protected by copyright.
Rob Bryson & Ruth Jones
CaveMum · 14/06/2024 13:26
Brydon &: Ruth Jones on Apple Podcasts
Show Brydon &, Ep Ruth Jones - 12 Jun 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brydon/id1687943454?i=1000658813656
Show more
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Precipice · 14/06/2024 13:36
Headteacher and chairs are neutral terms. Actor is applying the male term for women. It's not the same. The equivalent would be calling a woman a headmaster and a chairman.
marciaa · 14/06/2024 13:31
I think this was the start of all this insidious stuff. Making everyone "actors" "headteachers" "chair person". I've stopped all that and correctly sex the job :)
Kucinghitam · 15/06/2024 17:26
Goats are billy and nanny.
As far as I know, all cetaceans are bulls and cows. Possibly this applies to pinnipeds too?
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Llamas are Tinas and Terrys, if that helps 
Kucinghitam · 15/06/2024 10:01
FiL uses "manageress" - you'd be surprised how often this comes up!
Didn't there used to be "doctress"?
OnTheRightSideOfGeography · 15/06/2024 19:40
Llamas are Tinas and Terrys, if that helps
Kucinghitam · 15/06/2024 17:26
Goats are billy and nanny.
As far as I know, all cetaceans are bulls and cows. Possibly this applies to pinnipeds too?
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MumblesParty · 14/06/2024 16:31
I think headmaster/headmistress is a better description anyway, because often the headteachers of schools don’t actually teach any more. Although they’re qualified teachers, their jobs are often entirely administrative.
FleetingSeas · 14/06/2024 13:41
We used to have headmasters or headmistresses
ObliviousCoalmine · 14/06/2024 13:38
And what sex is a headteacher position?
marciaa · 14/06/2024 13:31
I think this was the start of all this insidious stuff. Making everyone "actors" "headteachers" "chair person". I've stopped all that and correctly sex the job :)
marciaa · 14/06/2024 14:00
I don't want "neutral". I want headmasters and headmistresses, actresses etc.
Precipice · 14/06/2024 13:36
Headteacher and chairs are neutral terms. Actor is applying the male term for women. It's not the same. The equivalent would be calling a woman a headmaster and a chairman.
marciaa · 14/06/2024 13:31
I think this was the start of all this insidious stuff. Making everyone "actors" "headteachers" "chair person". I've stopped all that and correctly sex the job :)
We like board games in our family, and we have a fair few vintage ones. One of these is the game 'Ulcers' - I don't know if anybody is familiar with it? - from sometime in the 70s IIRC; a really fun game.
Thankfully, it's using the word to refer to stressful business challenges, rather than anything medical 
. A main object of the game is to assemble a full staff of personnel (two secretaries, two salesmen, one sales manager, one vice-president and one president) to run your company.
The personnel cards all show cartoon-like sketches of random people - all of them different. Except... guess which sex every one of the secretaries is... then guess which sex every one of the salesmen, sales managers, vice-presidents and presidents is?
We also have a slightly more recent edition of the game somewhere, released a number of years later, where they have introduced one or two female salesmen (?!) and I think one female sales manager; but no change to any of the others at all.
OnTheRightSideOfGeography · 15/06/2024 22:25
Another one that springs to mind is 'sister' - as in a nurse on a hospital ward. Originally seen as a purely female occupation, but once men started to join it, they were not called, as you would logically expect, 'brothers', but 'charge nurses'.
Actually, the word nurse itself is one where, until not all that many years ago, a female nurse would be a 'nurse' and a male nurse would be a 'male nurse'.
HidingBehindTheWallpaper · 15/06/2024 22:38
And Matron brings to mind a woman.
EditedOnTheRightSideOfGeography · 15/06/2024 22:25
Another one that springs to mind is 'sister' - as in a nurse on a hospital ward. Originally seen as a purely female occupation, but once men started to join it, they were not called, as you would logically expect, 'brothers', but 'charge nurses'.
Actually, the word nurse itself is one where, until not all that many years ago, a female nurse would be a 'nurse' and a male nurse would be a 'male nurse'.
Ormally · 15/06/2024 22:44
...And. perhaps off-topic, but hamsters have some of the largest, er, cojones, in proportion to size of creature, so it may not matter to many what sex they are, but it's pretty much unmissable from the point of view of another hamster.
I can't remember where I read it, but it may very well have been on MN. A story where somebody urgently took their hamster to a vet, because they'd just noticed a couple of lumps on his body and were really worried that they may be cancerous growths.
Yep, they were just his Jacob's
I think the problem is acter and actor are pronounced the same.
Acter isn't a word.
AllProperTeaIsTheft · 15/06/2024 22:50
I think the problem is acter and actor are pronounced the same.
Acter isn't a word.
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Hiddendoor · 14/06/2024 17:51
I like the idea of using actress, headmistress etc and presuming a female would be the expected person for the job. So you'd have an actress and a male actress. Headmistress and male headmistress.
Doctor and Male Doctor. Engineer and Male engineer. Just to even it up a bit for our predecessors.
FancyBiscuitsLevel · 14/06/2024 13:44
sex neutral titles like headteacher are better for women, it doesn’t presume it’s a man’s role. Actor was the male title, so it would be more like using headmaster for both male and female heads, and saying “oh the title is unisex now”.
i suppose “acting professional” could be unisex, is their a unisex title that isn’t something that used to be the male one?
(they never decide we are using one title now and default to the female one, so they?)
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