Terms and Times
July 18, 2022•236 words
[014] ... [Trends]
The other day I was reading a film review, and found it a bit confusing. There were references of actor throughout which sometimes indicated a male and female in other places. I grasped the trend from a TV show which coincidentally mentioned on all who act being called actors, with the old term actress that clearly distinguished (besides adding an air of respect) sent to the side wings, obviously in vogue with the current trend of gender equality.
Luckily some fields don't come under this purview since they have safe and better sounding terms for the related. An engineer or technician, plumber or painter, carpenter or cobbler, scientist or lab assistant will continue to be the same, away from the gender discrimination.
This subject came to mind when a new and odd sounding term batter was boldly displayed on the site when looking up for cricket score. It raised a laugh no doubt, but may be they have a point when ladies cricket has gained ground, and got decided by consensus. Batsman may not be generally applicable therefore. But if one who using the bat becomes a batter, why not the one doing it with the ball be a baller going by the accessory than the verbal actions? Perhaps battinger or a bat holder would sound equally ridiculous as a ballinger. So, a batter, let it be, than a batman or batwoman...