Recently somebody stole the “e” from blonde.
Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, and Doris Day were blondes. Any magazine or newspaper from the 1950’s and 60’s described them as blondes.
I often misread blond for bond. No kidding. I look for that “e” as a mental cue when I read.
Firefox’s spell check flags blonde. Word 2000 spellcheck accepts blonde.
What spelling do you use?
The word was reintroduced into English in the 17th century from French, and was for some time considered French; in French, “blonde” is a feminine adjective; it describes a woman with blond hair. “Blond” is an adjective that refers to the hair itself. A man can have blond hair but he is rarely a “blonde”.[1]
Writers of English either use the spellings interchangeably or continue to distinguish between the masculine blond and the feminine blonde; and, as such, it is one of the few adjectives in English with separate masculine and feminine forms, at least in written language. Each of the two forms, however, is pronounced the same way.
wikipedia suggests the loss of the “e” is political correctness. :rolleyes:
Blond (MASC) or blonde (FEM), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be from the very pale blond (caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment) to reddish "strawberry" blond or golden-brownish ("sandy") blond colors (the latter with more eumelanin). Occasionally, the state of being blond, and specifically the occ...
Odd that they claim that blonde is sexist. No one took the “e” off brunette.
Brown hair, also referred to as brunet (male) or brunette (female), is the second-most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin.
Brown hair is common among populations in the Western world, especially among those from Northwestern Europe, Central Europe, Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Cone, Brazil, Colombi...
I agree.
Signed blonde bear, who put the “e” in by mistake when he registered. :smack:
Only a true blonde would spell ‘blonde’ ‘blond.’
I use “blonde” for women, “blond” for men.
Celyn
August 2, 2010, 2:13pm
5
Blonde for women, blond for men.
And sympathy for blondebear .
Men are blond; women are blonde. Men are brunet; women are brunette. Men are ginger; women are gingere.
Celyn
August 2, 2010, 2:19pm
7
Until they are all old, then they are grey and greye. Or bald and balde.
I agree with Ferret Herder and Celyn .
–Sigmagirl , blonde
A blonde is a woman with blond hair. Men are blonds with blond hair.
This is the way I normally use it.
An engaged (heterosexual) couple might both have blond hair. In that case, her fiance is a blond, while his fiancee is a blonde.
Or they might not have blond hair: he might be a brunet, and she might be a brunette.
I assume “either” means “I know the difference”?
I answered “blonde” because, until this thread, that’s how I’ve always used it. I never knew about the gender distinction. Consider my ignorance fought.
Not being French, I see no need to specify gender in my adjectives. No e .
Never, ever heard of the gender distinction in the spelling before this moment.
You’re not Roman, either, but you specify case in your pronouns.
I never knew the gender difference either. I always used blonde all my life.
A few years ago I started seeing blond used in the news media and wondered why they misspelled it.
Wikipedia explained the gender difference. I was surprised.
The news media seems to use blond regardless of gender.
A blond man.
One of the few adjectives in the English language that still has grammatical gender.
Is that Chicago Manual of Style? I don’t have it in front of me, so I can’t check. Associate Press Style, though, says “blond” as an adjective in both cases, but “blond” for the male noun and “blonde” for the female noun.
I’m sure the mods would let you lose your “E” if you asked nicely. But there’s always a possibility that you’re not even a bear, so why worry?