Why is this word still around?

[Miss Chicken]

SPINSTER

It is a horrible word. Men get bachelor, women get spinster. It is about time we came up with a better word for an unmarried woman.

Are there any words that you think should be erased from English (or any other language).

 

[GodThingFormerly]

I am perfectly sanguine with the fact that women who like to fuck around are called "sluts" while men who like to fuck around are called "virile".

SLR

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I love a double standard when it benefits me.

 

[Trekker4747]

SPINSTER

It is a horrible word. Men get bachelor, women get spinster. It is about time we came up with a better word for an unmarried womN.

Ummmm. How about bachelorette?

I mean, just a stab in the dark.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I use the word slut to describe some males.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Still, even when used to describe men, it doesn't have the same connotations. Society has changed, but language and its implications have still not entirely caught up.

Then again, I don't think I've ever used the word spinster to describe anyone (in real life or fiction). It strikes me as a word that will die relatively soon.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I thought about this topic when someone mentioned his 'spinster aunts' in a TNZ thread.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

It strikes me as a word that will die relatively soon.

Not if i have anything to say about it.

 

[gturner]

But "Spinster" formed as the politically correct term. It refers to a woman who spins thread, which was typically done by unmarried women. The same process will one day probably have us refer to spinsters as "career women", which takes twice as many syllables to convey half the meaning.

Is being a spinster really worse than being the old ball and chain?

 

[RoJoHen]

I use the word slut to describe some males.

Why wouldn't you? Sometimes it applies!

 

[Punky]

I use the word slut to describe some males.

I like the term "man whore" better

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ All those negative sexual terms should have died out forty years ago. But I guess there are still plenty who are sexually jealous.

As for "spinster," it's not the same as "bachelor" or "bachelorette." It's more like "old maid," i.e. someone who has grown old without ever getting married (in an age where marriage was an expectation). It's generally been used as a negative stereotype; I don't know of any corresponding male term

 

[USS Triumphant]

As for "spinster," it's not the same as "bachelor" or "bachelorette." It's more like "old maid," i.e. someone who has grown old without ever getting married (in an age where marriage was an expectation). It's generally been used as a negative stereotype; I don't know of any corresponding male term

"Confirmed bachelor". And in my experience, both that and "spinster" were frequently code for gay and lesbian, back when you didn't talk about homosexuality in "polite society".

 

[scottydog]

^Good point.

I don't understand the use of negative labels when the person at which they're directed hasn't done anything wrong. There is nothing inherently good or bad about remaining single. Some negative labels do make sense: criminal, terrorist, murderer, adulterer, etc. But let's reserve the negativity for truly bad behavior, not harmless choices.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

I use the word slut to describe some males.

I like the term "man whore" better

Good one on both counts, sadly I'm batting at 098. and am too cheap to go get a lady whore , but I guess safer.

 

[FordSVT]

This is the first time I've heard anyone use the word spinster in years.

 

[scottydog]

^Yes it does sound rather 19th century, doesn't it.

 

[Omnius]

^Yes it does sound rather 19th century, doesn't it.

More like 18th century! This is a spinster:

No single unmarried woman nowadays does that anymore. (I hope).

In Dutch we use the term "oude vrijster" for older unmarried women. Which doesnt translate into english very well, it basically means "old love making woman".

 

[Holdfast]

SPINSTER

It is a horrible word. Men get bachelor, women get spinster. It is about time we came up with a better word for an unmarried woman.

There is. Old Maid.


Actually, I believe if one is 25 and working in a Parisian fashion house, you could be a Catherinette instead. I doubt that still happens, but it is a more elegant term, I guess, and one a girl could co-opt at any age as a more pleasant term.

 

[Colonel Green]

I thought about this topic when someone mentioned his 'spinster aunts' in a TNZ thread.

I wondered if that post would offend somebody. I was really just using the word for comedic effect.