# what's the feminization of the word "patronizing?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294 "2015-03-18T15:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/21 "2015-03-19T22:00:26Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > If being [patronizing](http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/patronizing?s=t)means assuming a fatherly air of paternal know-it-all-edness, is there an equivalent word for when a woman does it? > > Doesn’t the word have loaded gender-related connotations? Basically, I’m wondering if there’s an other-sex equivalency, the way that “misandry” is the gender-flipping equivalent of “misogyny.” > > (Don’t need answer fast. 🙂 ) I don’t think that the feminists will get their panties in a bunch if they don’t have their counterpart for the term, in the sense that you mean. It is a kind of thing that one doesn’t want one’s own word for. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/22 "2015-03-19T23:40:09Z")
I believe the “condescending” meaning of “Patronize” and the “become a customer of a business” meaning are independent evolutions of the original meaning, which was to literally make someone a patron, in the old Roman sense. Patronizing a business meant acting as a patron to the businessman–you were his social superior who supported his business. Same with arts patronage, or patron saints, or other patron-client relationships. Your actual patron had the right to act as if he was your social superior. Other random people who put on airs as if they were superior to you–as if they were your patron–did not. Interesting that we can now use patron and client both to refer to a business customer. I wonder if this comes from the merging of different types of businesses, trades where your customers were your social superiors and thus your patrons, and ones where your customers were your social inferiors and thus your clients (such as law or medicine). ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/23 "2015-03-20T08:55:51Z")
“Patronizing.” The sense of the word has evolved in such a way as to leave behind any sense of signifying a gender. Or, if you like, it involves acting like a certain kind of man, whether or not one is male. A woman can be boyish, a man can be girly, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/24 "2015-03-20T09:47:26Z")
“[Marianizing,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianismo)” maybe? If you’re into torturing neologisms? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/25 "2015-03-20T10:33:23Z")
> [@jezzaOZ](#): > > It’s really quite fun here in Australia with any tradesman New-Chum from Blighty. Call him “My good man” and you can see the red mist rising and sparks _will_ fly! 🙂 (Pom baiting is one of Australia’s national pastimes) Really??? I would have thought that a “New-chum” (not heard that before) would take such ribbing in good part. It’s you colonials that tend to be sensitive about such outmoded ideas as “class”. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/26 "2015-03-20T10:51:35Z")
I’m ‘Patrona’ to some of the guys that work for me. It means female boss or employer, but it’s more nuanced than that. There’s implications of a higher level of responsibility and reciprocation to each other than a employer/employee dynamic. On the other hand, I’ve heard plenty of other Spanish words that aren’t as nuanced. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/27 "2015-03-20T13:16:40Z")
If I wanted to give more of a “maternal” air to a similar concept, I’d say “babying,” “nannying,” or “Mother Henning” (hen-ning?). ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/28 "2015-03-20T16:10:54Z")
Oooh, the “Mother Hen” is a good suggestion – similar ideas of telling someone what they should do, and includes that same “I know what’s good for you better than you do” connotation. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/29 "2015-03-20T19:08:14Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Ditto. Triple. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294/30 "2015-03-20T19:48:19Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Technically, I’d imagine it’s “matronizing.” Colloquially, I’d say it’s “mothering”. They actually say “I am making a motherhood statement”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-feminization-of-the-word-patronizing/715294.md?page=1)