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Do you still use Mademoiselle? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5847 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes  1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 23 03 April 2010 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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And to prove this unlogic a divorced woman or a female widow has to be called "Madame" despite her (maybe) "availablity".
I agree with lynxrunner's statements. But what I really want to know is how "Mademoiselle" is handled in practice in the French speaking countries (to make sure that the discussion doesn't go off-topic here). In English I always use "Ms" to address women (and referring to myself) to avoid the Miss/Mrs choice. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 April 2010 at 9:46pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 10 of 23 03 April 2010 at 11:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Mademoiselle may seem unnecessary, but I don't quite agree. I can't imagine myself
addressing a 14 or 15 year-old girl with "madame". In such a case, where the girl is obviously too young to possibly be married, mademoiselle is most appropriate. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ember Triglot Groupie CyprusRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5403 days ago 63 posts - 101 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, German Studies: Spanish, French, Greek, Polish | Message 11 of 23 04 April 2010 at 10:58am | IP Logged | |||||
Isn't señora/señorita the same in Spanish as French madame/mademoiselle? Just curious, because that's what we learnt in our Spanish classes. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5847 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 23 04 April 2010 at 2:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, "señorita" is the Spanish translation of "mademoiselle". Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Blunderstein Triglot Pro Member Sweden schackhandeln.se Joined 5418 days ago 60 posts - 82 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, FrenchB2 Studies: German, Esperanto Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 23 04 April 2010 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Somewhat off-topic:
I once registered at a website where the choices were: "Are you a (man), (woman) or (computer)? In case of doubt, choose (computer)." It was a chessplaying site, where some people use computers to choose their moves on the chessboard, so the question was completely appropriate. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5981 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 14 of 23 04 April 2010 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes it is, but in some Spanish speaking countries, especially Spain, it has kinda disappeared from the spoken everyday language. It's a very inappropriate word for the times with live in, and in those languages like Spanish that lack an equivalent word for men, it is indeed a really sexist word. Edited by Javi on 04 April 2010 at 7:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| The Blaz Senior Member Canada theblazblog.blogspotRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5600 days ago 120 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Swahili, French, Sign Language, Esperanto | Message 15 of 23 04 April 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
Not so much in Mexico... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xA-JSjdbnM 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5811 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 16 of 23 04 April 2010 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
First of all, the word choice here is pretty questionable. "Sexist" implies that it's some sort of intentionally discriminatory behavior, when in fact it's just part of the language that's been around for a very long time. Nobody consciously uses Miss or Mlle or Senorita out of sexist inclinations or beliefs. And second, and far more importantly, I think such words serve a very important social purpose. Like it or not, the duty of initiating any sort of romantic involvement still falls squarely on the man in most human societies. I realize that in Western Europe, perhaps, this may no longer be completely true, but even in the rural US it certainly is, let alone North Africa. As such, men have more need for quick information about availability. It's not just about convenience, either, it's about social harmony and violence prevention. Most men I know will take fairly serious offense with other men who flirt with their girlfriends or wives--regardless of whether the flirter knew she was unavailable or not. As such, I think it makes perfect sense that most languages have evolved different titles of address for married and unmarried adult women, but not necessarily for their male counterparts. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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