# Question for women: Which noun do you prefer to be designated by? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103 "2012-09-28T04:00:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/1 "2012-09-28T04:00:30Z")
If you had to be referred to with a noun that specified your gender as an adult woman (if you’re not adult yet, answer as if you were), how would you like to be designated? The option “a female” here refers only to the word as a noun, not an adjective: the noun pluralized as “females.” ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/2 "2012-09-28T04:10:22Z")
How about “Dudette?” ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/3 "2012-09-28T05:05:05Z")
Sheila mate ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/4 "2012-09-28T05:48:48Z")
where’s “ho” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/5 "2012-09-28T10:39:52Z")
Though I’ll happily refer to myself as a kiwi chick (because kiwis are birds - geddit?), if some random person has to refer to me in a gender specific way, then woman. I deal with the public and have conversations with all sorts, referring to people as ‘men’ or ‘women’ has the least chance of offending, IME. Where’s the Chickybabe option? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/6 "2012-09-28T10:49:21Z")
Woman would be my preference. Although I’m quite happy to be included in a group of ‘guys’, which I don’t see as being gender-specific when applied to groups of people. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/7 "2012-09-28T11:30:57Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Woman would be my preference. Although I’m quite happy to be included in a group of ‘guys’, which I don’t see as being gender-specific when applied to groups of people. This right here. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/8 "2012-09-28T19:12:22Z")
Zero votes for “a female.” Now that’s telling. Are you paying attention, gentlemen? “Woman” is my choice. I’m fine with being called “lady,” but really I prefer _woman_ and don’t even see the need for another term. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/9 "2012-09-28T19:26:22Z")
I checked Women, lady, lass, and girl, in that order. I am a woman, I’m 36, but I don’t mind being called a lady, as I strive to be one. Lass is charming and sweet from some men, and girl is ok in a very very few scenarios. Dame? I’d be shocked. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/10 "2012-09-28T19:42:29Z")
Woman. That’s it. Anything else is either a flat-out no, or very likely a no depending on context. I don’t see why it needs to be complicated. I do have a female friend around my age who is free to call me missy and other such things, but most anyone else who tried that would get punched. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/11 "2012-09-28T20:06:51Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Woman would be my preference. Although I’m quite happy to be included in a group of ‘guys’, which I don’t see as being gender-specific when applied to groups of people. Yeah, same here. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/12 "2012-09-28T20:20:10Z")
I didn’t want the dames, broads or "a female"s to feel left out so I voted for them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/13 "2012-09-30T10:39:09Z")
I knew “woman” would win, but I’m surprised “lady” is so far behind. I was at first wondering why there were so few good choices, but then I realized that I was thinking of what to call women, not nouns for referring to them. I’m sure most of you would not like to actually be called “Woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/14 "2012-09-30T11:59:21Z")
I prefer “woman”. For reasons I can’t explain, men and women are referred to as males and females when giving a description/report on them in both law enforcement and medicine. " Mrs. G, a 59 year old Hispanic female with a history of COPD…" and “Suspect is a white male, wearing black pants, white shoes and and a devil mask…” ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/15 "2012-09-30T15:28:10Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Zero votes for “a female.” Now that’s telling. Are you paying attention, gentlemen? Oh jeeezus. The only time I hear the term female is in a proffesional sense. Police, medical on a form. I’ve never heard men refer to women as female. I hear woman, chick, gal, etc..Even if they did lighten up. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/16 "2012-09-30T17:21:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I knew “woman” would win, but I’m surprised “lady” is so far behind. > > I was at first wondering why there were so few good choices, but then I realized that I was thinking of what to call women, not nouns for referring to them. I’m sure most of you would not like to actually be called “Woman.” That’s why I asked for “designation,” in the belief that I was choosing words carefully for clarity. By designation I meant a third-person reference as opposed to a term of address. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/17 "2012-09-30T17:47:10Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > I prefer “woman”. > > For reasons I can’t explain, men and women are referred to as males and females when giving a description/report on them in both law enforcement and medicine. " Mrs. G, a 59 year old Hispanic female with a history of COPD…" and “Suspect is a white male, wearing black pants, white shoes and and a devil mask…” For distancing from humanity in the mind. Treating human beings as objects, numbers or specimens. Why would anyone deliberately do that? For war, law enforcement, and medicine. All three of these involve violence to human beings. No doubt likewise for torturers, executioners, terrorists, etc. Medicine stands out from the bunch. In the case of medicine, the sense of “violence” inheres only in terms of disruptive actions done to living tissue, like surgery, but is intended to be healing instead of destructive or punitive. It opposes all the others, but exists in large part because of the others. For human beings to have to do violent acts to other humans as part of their profession… I don’t know, folks… I just know I could not work in an emergency hospital or war zone or law enforcement. Working a desk job in counterterrorism has been bad enough. Hands-on violence is beyond the pale for me. It’s mentally traumatic to pursue such a profession. To blunt the edge of such mental trauma, for those who deal in physical and mental trauma, they use coldly clinical distancing terms. _Man_ and _woman_ are too humanistic: they carry connotations that reach deep into the human heart. _Male_ and _female_ provide the distancing.\* I may not like it, but I can see the reason for using it, to protect the mental health of operators in those professions. The question in this thread, and the [one that inspired](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=666621) it, and the [other one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=666994) inspired with it, has to do with the extension of this professional jargon to everyday life of everybody—in situations like oh, say, the basic functions of all human society—when it’s generally acknowledged as a good thing to treat human beings as thinking, feeling, autonomous human people. \*Similar to calling Spike “Hostile-17” instead of his name. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/18 "2012-09-30T18:19:37Z")
I guess I should choose ‘woman’: though friends, especially those around my own age, are welcome to use ‘girl’. In my head, ‘woman’ is still too sensible and mature, and feels wrong being applied to someone who’s currently still in their jammies despite it being after 7pm, and who regularly plays with Lego. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/19 "2012-09-30T18:32:44Z")
P.S. I’m having difficulty taking “dudette” as a real word. For all that I can see, it exists only as a joke word. I’m presuming that people not turn themselves into jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103/20 "2012-09-30T18:36:26Z")
“When the missiles go up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department,” says Wernher von Braun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-women-which-noun-do-you-prefer-to-be-designated-by/636103.md?page=2)