Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Mandryka]

I suddenly thought of Shakespeare's "master-mistress"

A woman's face with nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change as is false women's fashion;
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue, all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created,
Till nature as she wrought thee fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
      But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,
      Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

[Karl Henning]

I guess part of the thinking is that -ess words are demeaning. A manageress is not as important as a manager, an ambassadress less important than an ambassador. Seamstress is another one which seems particularly belittling.

Yes.

[Karl Henning]

I guess part of the thinking is that -ess words are demeaning. A manageress is not as important as a manager, an ambassadress less important than an ambassador. Seamstress is another one which seems particularly belittling.

Come to think on't, one of the principal characters in Terry Gilliam's Brazil is a teamstress. 

[Mandryka]

Yes.

And there's the -ette feminine -- usherette (did you have them in The States -- women who show you to your seat in the cinema?), majorette and the extraordinary wankette

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wankette#English

[Karl Henning]

And there's the -ette feminine -- usherette (did you have them in The States -- women who show you to your seat in the cinema?), majorette and the extraordinary wankette

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wankette#English

Usherette had passed out of usage by the time I was old enough to go to the movies on my own. A young Carol Burnett plays an usherette in the Twilight Zone. 

[ritter]

FWIW, the use of the word "actor" to denote both male and female thespians is a decision of The Guardian, not —at least to my knowledge— of Julie Christie. I don't remember the last time I read the word "actress" in that paper...

I know language evolves, but I also know some people —in this case,, the editorial board of a newspaper— try to force it to evolve in a direction. Whether that catches on or not, remains to be seen. I, for one, will refer to Mrs Christie, or Mrs. Winslet, or Mrs. Berry, or Eleonora Duse, as "actresses", regardless of what The Guardian prefers...

[Mandryka]

My parents would say, for example, Lucille Ball is a comedienne.

[Florestan]

Campbell's long-term partner is the actor Julie Christie. The pair had been together since the late 1970s and married in 2005.

From an obituary in today's Guardian. As far as I know Julie Christie is a cis-woman. My first thought on reading it was that she's an actress, not an actor.

What on earth is a cis-woman?

[ritter]

What on earth is a cis-woman?

Cis-woman, trans-woman... get it?

Good evening, Andrei!

[Florestan]

Cis-woman, trans-woman... get it?

Iow, a cis-woman is a woman period. I
 be damned if I'll ever call myself a cis-man. 

Good evening, Andrei!

To you too, Rafael.

[Wendell_E]

And there's the -ette feminine -- usherette (did you have them in The States -- women who show you to your seat in the cinema?), majorette and the extraordinary wankette

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wankette#English

We don't use them in movie theatres any longer, however concert halls and opera houses still have them, but they're called "ushers", regardless of gender. The White House also has ushers (and stewards) of both genders, as shown in the recent Netflix series The Residence.