Bachelor and Spinster - Pejoration with a touch of sexism 02

I remember learning in my English classes in primary school the different nouns for male and female of the same jobs or status; actor - actress, duke - duchess, master - mistress, bachelor - spinster, etc.

Later, I learnt that after your undergraduate studies, you get your bachelor's degree, and your graduate studies, your master's; and both degrees happen to be called by nouns which also refer to male status.

In my very naiive innocent mind, I wondered why when woman finishes her undergraduate or graduate studies, she is not awarded spinster's or mistress' degree. Forgive me, I was only 9 or 10.

Looking up the word 'bachelor' in the dictionary of etymology, there are definitions as follows:
1. (a 1300) a young knight, a young man
2. (a 1300) an unmarried man
3. (a 1376) a degree, a person who has been awarded a degree by a college or a university.
4. (1418 - 1809) a young member of the guild

I looked up the female equivalent, spinster.
1. (a 1376) a woman who spins wool
2. (1380) an unmarried woman
3. (1636) a spider
4. (1719) an unmarried woman who has passed the age of marrying and is unlikely to get married. Old maid.

Clearly, 'spinster' had undergone pejoration. The Oxford American Dictionary admits in its definition that it is derogatory.

First the word referred to a job, a person who spins. Long before the Industrial Revolution, spinning wool was a common job for an unmarried woman, so the job also denoted a single young woman. It was used in legal documents too. However, around late 18th century, the definition started o include older unmarried women or women who chose not o marry, and today only the most lately added meaning survives.

The word 'spinster' does not carry the neutral sense anymore...

Bachelor party sounds all wonderful and exciting, but how about 'spinster party'? What would you imagine from here? Moans, cries, grudges...

Language sexism...

Banzai!

While staying in Australia for a home-stay programme, I remember my host father often expresses joy by saying “Banzai!” This was a bit of a surprise to me as a student. I knew there were Japanese words or phrases already familiar to, and used by, the native speakers of English, such as Suchi, Sumo, Manga, but I had not expected “banzai” along this line of thought.

According to the OED, “Banzai” means “1. a shout or cheer used by the Japanese in greeting the emperor or in battle,” first recorded in 1893. This reminds me of the original sense the word carried: It was a way of political and militaristic celebration. Now, there are many occasions when Banzai is used, for example, an election campaign, wherein people celebrate a winner of candidates by raising their hands and sharing Banzai shouting. It is a collective or social behavior celebrating success and achievement.

When my host father said “Banzai,” it was a personal expression of joy and nothing sort of ceremonial, so that it gave me a bit of confusion as well as amusement. But my host father was right to use “banzai” not simply because I am Japanese but also the word has already changed its connotation.

The OED shows that the political sense has already faded away, and people use it simply for expressing cheer, as in the "Banzai"'s second definition; “(as if) shouting ‘banzai’, uproarious, jollificatory. slang,” recorded from 1929.

Interestingly, “banzai” is also included in the category of “merriment” in the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (HTOED). Starting from “blithe” (from the time of Old English) there are so many entries for the words of merriment in English, in which "Banzai" is the second recent entry.

I am interested in the way in which the original specific sense of the word has been changed or reduced into the general use.

Master and Mistress - Pejoration with a touch of sexism 01

Meaning of words change in time, some positively, some negatively. This change in the meaning, I consider, is the reflection of how people think about the world, and language is what we use to describe and understand the world we live in.

I am a fairly neutral person and do not take any extreme position in ideas and philosophy, but I do get a little sensitive with words that talk about women in a demeaning way.

Pejoration is a downgrading of the meaning of a word. The word was once neutral in meaning, but along the history, it went down the hill. I feel that words referring to women tend to undergo pejoration.


'Master' and 'Mistress'

'Master' means, since the time of Old English, a teacher, and later becomes to mean a person having control or authority. Around 14th century, a scholar degree, and in 16th century, the head of the household.

'Mistress' is the female equivalent to 'master'. In 14th century it meant a female home teacher, a governess, but that definition is now obsolete. It also means a woman having control or authority, who is the head of the household, same as 'master'. It was also used as an honorific to address a gentlewoman, and up to 18th century, to address an unmarried lady.

Around 15th century, it started to mean 'a woman who has a continuing extramarital sexual relationship with a man'.

Now how did that come into the definition? I imagine from the original meaning the word something like this -  Around medieval times. A mistress works as a home teacher in a wealthy family. It does not matter which seduces first, but somehow the master of the house and the mistress become very intimate, and secretly start a relationship. Because she is the governess, she works in the family until the child grows up, fairly many years, meaning the extramarital relationship last for years.

Today, this meaning of 'adulteress' seems to be the one that first comes into a lot of people's minds when they hear the word. The definition of 'master' is unstained.

Extramarital relationship is possible with two people. Why did only 'mistress' undergo this pejoration, and not the male equivalent? ...Sexism!

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The Kenkyusha Dictionary of English Etymology

®.I.P. Escalator (1899 - 1950) Epitaph file 02

®.I.P. Epitaph series 02 Trademarks that unfortunately lost its effect.

Escalator, yes, this was once a trademark of Otis Elevator Company...

Escalator is, as you know, a very convenient moving stairway that transports people from a level to a higher or a lower level. The first working escalator was invented and patented by Jesse W. Reno in 1892, and was installed in Coney Island, Brooklyn in 1896 (the first working escalator). It was then called 'inclined elevator', and it was not for practical use but for amusement at the Old Iron Pier.

The escalator in design as we know today was invented and patented in 1897 by an American inventor Charles Seeberger, who also created the name 'Escalator' from joining two words 'scala', Latin word for steps, and 'elevator', which was already invented before this moving stairway. In 1899, Seeberger joined Otis Elevator Company and developed the first commercial use escalator. The Seeberger - Otis Escalator won the first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition.

In 1910, Seegerger sold his patent to Otis, and in the following year Otis also bought the Jesse Reno's escalator patent. Since then, Escalator had become the trademark of the Otis product, and enjoyed the dominance for half a century. Other similar manufacturers had to come up with names like 'Motorstair', 'Electric Stairway', 'Moving Stair' to refer to their product.

With the development of high-rise buildings in cities in the first half of the 20th century, this convenient product, escalators, became indispensable and were installed in many places. In 1950, the U.S. Patent Office ruled that the word 'Escalator' had lost its effect as a trademark, and had become a generic term for moving stairways.

In 1922, about 30 years prior to the death, the verb 'to escalate' was born from the trademark Escalator. When a trademark starts to get used as verbs, it is MFD... Marked For Death.

®.I.P. Escalator.

To Skype - Genericide 05

Many of my relatives outside Japan, in the States and in countries in Europe, so Skype is now indispensable in our family communication. The application allows people to communicate via Internet on text, on voice or on video, instantly and most importantly, free if it is Skype-to-Skype calls. It is faster and more instantaneous than e-mail correspondence, cheaper than telephone calls, and the video function makes it more informational than other styles of communication.

Skype application was first released in 2003. Its easiness and convenience, and the widespread use of personal computers and the Internet made the application tremendously popular, so popular that the trademark Skype is on the verge of gerericide, another endangered trademark.

Skype brand name guideline clearly forbids the trademark to be used as a generic word; to write it in the lower case, to use it as a verb (Skype legal brand guidelines). Though stipulated, the reality does not follow what is said. On wikiHow, the trademark, though still written with the upper case, is used as a verb. (wikiHow Skype).

- How to Skype
- Skyping your friends, familiy and co-workers...

Here is another evidence of the peril of the trademark Skype. The two famous talk show hosts of the U.S.A., Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, use the trademark as verbs when they are conversing on Ellen's show (March 20th 2009). Oprah made a big surprise appearance on Ellen's show via Skype.

Ellen : How is this happening? Are you Skyping in? What's happening?
Oprah : Skyping in, that's exactly what I'm doing.

See, 'Skype' is endangered.

This surprise appearance of Oprah was written as an article in The Huffington Post. In the article, it uses the trademark correctly as the guideline stipulates, but incidentally, another endangered trademark 'Photoshop' is used as a verb (Huffington Post Oprah invites Ellen).