| The correct adjective is "female," but people avoid it because they feel it has the wrong connotation. That's really the same thing you're seeing with those who avoid the adjective "Democratic" when referring to the party. And I'm on the side of calling people and groups what they want to be called -- unless I want to express contempt for them. And, really, that's what we're seeing here. I recommend only saying "Democrat Party" if you mean to express some serious contempt. For those who don't like it: that's the whole point! It's a taunt. And, to go back to this "woman" thing. Note that you don't say "men lawyers." Oh, look, Bush picked a man justice! That sounds subliterate or nutty. But we say, Bush failed to pick another woman justice, without even thinking of the lack of parallelism. What's with that? This sense that there's something wrong with using "female" ought to be examined. It reminds me of the way some people feel there's something wrong with calling someone a Jew. Might there not be an unexamined prejudice in there? Ann On Jul 21, 2005, at 10:24 AM, Douglas Laycock wrote:
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