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English Words More Appropriate For Specific Genders


Baburra

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I've always thought that "outfit" was more appropriate for females when speaking about their clothes. I have a hard time picturing it otherwise, and would often feel it to be awkward when a male uses the word to describe his own clothes.

Although, I'm pretty sure that technically, it is applicable for both genders. I wonder why this is so, how about you? I'd also be glad to hear any other examples you guys come up with. :)

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How would you call a woman who fishes for a living? Fisher girl/ fisher chick or something? I think there are some words like Fisherman which though they can be changed to include both sexes, just can't sound right because we're used to the sound of it.

He's a fisherman.

She's a fisherman?

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How would you call a woman who fishes for a living? Fisher girl/ fisher chick or something? I think there are some words like Fisherman which though they can be changed to include both sexes, just can't sound right because we're used to the sound of it.

He's a fisherman.

She's a fisherman?

Hmm, in cases like that I guess you'd (or I'd) go for the gender neutral pronouns, for example fisher rather than associating a suffix with it.

I don't think I've ever felt like a specific word is more suitable for guys or girls to say though.

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I've always thought that "outfit" was more appropriate for females when speaking about their clothes. I have a hard time picturing it otherwise, and would often feel it to be awkward when a male uses the word to describe his own clothes.

Although, I'm pretty sure that technically, it is applicable for both genders. I wonder why this is so, how about you? I'd also be glad to hear any other examples you guys come up with. :)

I have heard "outfit" refer to clothing for men as well as women.  I've also heard it used for children and babies as well.  But I do think the tendency is to use it less so for men. 

I think that "outfit" may seem a little bit odd when referring to men because we may be more likely to talk about women's clothing as a totality whereas unless a man is wearing a suit, we are probably more likely to speak about specific items of his clothing.  Perhaps the type jacket he's wearing or the type of pants.  We might say "He wore a tweed jacket" or "He wore faded jeans."  Or we might label the combination:  "He wore jeans and a t-shirt."  Or we might say "He dressed casually." 

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  • 3 months later...

I get the point. When I was little I was very much confused by some words too. I can only think of one now but then it was several. I always thought that the word suit was a word used only to describe a males clothing. It was some time later before I knew females also dressed in suits. A bit funny now that I'm older and look back at it.

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How would you call a woman who fishes for a living? Fisher girl/ fisher chick or something? I think there are some words like Fisherman which though they can be changed to include both sexes, just can't sound right because we're used to the sound of it.

He's a fisherman.

She's a fisherman?

I think the word man at the end of every word does not necessarily denote or refer to men or masculine. I think man means human and that humans are a general term for both male and female. So fisherman meaning a human who fishes, that's what I understand and maybe that's why they created such word in the first place.

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Using the word "cute" to describe something is for the ladies..."that shirt is cute."  Whenever I use the word cute to describe an item that I like, my fiance looks at me weird and asks how it is "cute."  I think this word is reserved for the ladies, unless describing a baby or an animal.

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I've always thought that "outfit" was more appropriate for females when speaking about their clothes. I have a hard time picturing it otherwise, and would often feel it to be awkward when a male uses the word to describe his own clothes.

Although, I'm pretty sure that technically, it is applicable for both genders. I wonder why this is so, how about you? I'd also be glad to hear any other examples you guys come up with. :)

"Outfit" can be used for either gender. I've never had any problems with it.

"Pretty" on the other hand is a bit trickier. Sure, it's mostly applied to women, but you might hear some women calling a man "pretty" every now and then. On the other hand, you very rarely hear a man call another man "pretty" which means that a woman almost always is on either the sending or receiving end for the word to work. To me, that means that "pretty" is a feminine word, yes.

It's very much like what Rosyrain described about the word "cute."

Using the word "cute" to describe something is for the ladies..."that shirt is cute."  Whenever I use the word cute to describe an item that I like, my fiance looks at me weird and asks how it is "cute."  I think this word is reserved for the ladies, unless describing a baby or an animal.

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