# What gender specific descriptors remain/will remain? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486 "2021-02-22T17:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/101 "2021-02-26T00:04:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > That gets a bit of a pass since by and large “cow” is thought of as the gender-nonspecific word for individual cattle. And has been thought so for decades if not centuries. > > Right. If you saw an individual standing in the distance and couldn’t tell its sex you would just call it a cow. Likewise if you saw a mixed herd you could call it a “herd of cows.” The term “moo cows” also applies. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/102 "2021-02-26T00:07:52Z")
Also baa-lambs. But not quack-ducks. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/103 "2021-02-26T00:09:39Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > The term “moo cows” also applies. I’ve heard the term “cattle-beast” used to refer to a bovine of unspecified sex. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/104 "2021-02-26T00:28:39Z")
One “beef”; two or more “beeves”. Even if kept for dairy not meat. Really. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/105 "2021-02-26T00:33:24Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > if you were teaching a child the names for animals, you would say “an adult male cow is called a bull”. You might; but you wouldn’t be entirely accurate. A neutered adult male bovine\* is called a steer. A bull is specifically a sexually-intact male. / / \*I can’t bring myself to say ‘male cow.’ I can bring myself to not complain if other people say it, but I’m not going to use it myself. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/106 "2021-02-26T00:39:39Z")
I took a college course on nomads, and one of the questions on the final was about cattle herders. I amused myself on the exam by using as many different words for cattle as i could think of. Cow, heifer, bull, bullock, steer, calf, beef, beeves, oxen, bovine, kine, cattle… Probably some more that I’m not thinking of now. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/107 "2021-02-26T00:47:52Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > You might; but you wouldn’t be entirely accurate. A neutered adult male bovine\* is called a steer. A bull is specifically a sexually-intact male. “Mommy, what’s new turd? What’s seck shooly in teck?” ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/108 "2021-02-26T00:53:11Z")
Some people have more trouble discussing such things with children than others. But that is why I said “you might”. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/109 "2021-02-26T00:59:25Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Steward/stewardess is already (or should be, in my view) replaced by flight attendant. > Sanitation expert and a maintenance engineer > Garbage man, a janitor and you my dear > A real union flight attendant, my oh my > You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CHkgsYLs0DQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Waitress in the Sky (2008 Remaster)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHkgsYLs0DQ) (The song is mocking the backwards attitude of the narrator, by the way.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/110 "2021-02-26T02:10:12Z")
Like with all the firemen who do not fight fires, what is the proposed alternative to steward(ess) in general? Attendant? Manager? Purser? What about all the Lord High Steward business? Also, many of us should be familiar with shop stewards. I know a woman who was quite effective in this position. She was known to be the ‘shop steward’ (never stewardess, at least that I recall hearing). To reiterate what has been said, some words may be more, and some less, ill-suited to gender-neutral use, but (IMHO now) this cannot be completely predicted from the word itself, because the conception of females as actors, sailors, porters, stewards, tailors, etc., is subject to sexist prejudice. Like, if awarding recognition to ‘players’ instead of ‘actors’ will help anything, I am for it, but the underlying problem is not with the word ‘actor’ or ‘actress’ in and of itself. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/111 "2021-02-26T02:22:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One “beef”; two or more “beeves”. I asked that of the only rancher (my word, not his) I’ve known. He said he personally called them “calves”, but he acknowledged he was unusual. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/112 "2021-02-26T03:23:40Z")
“Diva” is a female term; the male is “divo.” But the female has taken over for both. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/113 "2021-02-26T06:55:57Z")
Songstress? Not useful - singer will be fine. Comedienne? Not since Phyllis Diller. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/114 "2021-02-26T08:41:39Z")
> **[No more ‘Mr.’ Potato Head: Hasbro makes classic toy gender neutral](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/25/mister-potato-head-gender-neutral/)** > Potatoes have no gender. And soon, after nearly 70 years, the name of Hasbro’s popular spud-shaped toy will reflect that: No more Mr. Potato Head. It’s just Potato Head. > Culture has evolved,” Kimberly Boyd, who works on the Potato Head brand at Hasbro, told Fast Company. “Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists — with the ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.’ — is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/115 "2021-02-26T12:44:07Z")
To be clear, they will still sell separate Mr. and Mrs, Potato Head toys. They are just removing the “Mr.” from the brand and logo. I remember when the kits didn’t come with a plastic head and you were supposed to use a real potato, ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/116 "2021-02-26T14:13:22Z")
I was sad when that changed. My sister pointed out that parents didn’t like finding a rotten potato in their kid’s underwear drawer or under the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/117 "2021-02-26T18:53:20Z")
You are also free to toss out the plastic potato and go “old school” with a real potato from your kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/118 "2021-02-26T19:20:31Z")
They used to suggest you go real wild and use green peppers, turnips, or other vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/119 "2021-02-26T20:10:14Z")
So many kids nowadays only know of potatoes in the form of French fries they’d end up with potato heads looking more like Gary Larson’s talking worms. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486/120 "2021-02-26T20:39:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My sister pointed out that parents didn’t like finding a rotten potato in their kid’s underwear drawer or under the bed. Also, the sharp little spikes were deemed more of a safety hazard than the plastic plugs you shove into the modern prefab plastic potato. > [@Colibri](#): > > They used to suggest you go real wild and use green peppers, turnips, or other vegetables. See also: Toy Story 3. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gender-specific-descriptors-remain-will-remain/933486.md?page=7)