# Your opinion of the word "Womyn" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510 "2006-08-13T02:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/1 "2006-08-13T02:22:59Z")
I considered putting this in Great Debates, but I am hoping this will be suitable for IMHO. I’m not, after all, looking for a debate, just opinions. During a little bit of Wikipedia browsing, I came across [this article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womyn). The gist of it: Some feminists prefer the spelling “womyn” for the word that is usually spelled as “woman” because of the word “man” embedded in the latter. > [@](#): > > Feminists who prefer [womyn and similar words] feel that the terms “woman/women” relate to the historical and ongoing social subordination of women, since the word “man” is seen as the default for human, implying that women are a subset of men, or a deviation from the norm. Dopers, what are your thoughts on this word and the concepts behind it? Personally, I believe that it is a waste of effort for supporters of a good cause (gender equity, not revised spelling.) It seems silly quibbling about spelling rather than contributing to the cause in a more solid way. There exists a definite subset that will likely look at this effort as foolish and misguided and those who support the effort risk having their entire cause labeled foolish and misguided by association. Just my opinion. What say you. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/2 "2006-08-13T02:31:30Z")
I think the supporters of this spelling are tree-hugging, moon-howling, Birkenstock-wearing nutballs. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/3 "2006-08-13T02:33:42Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I think the supporters of this spelling are tree-hugging, moon-howling, Birkenstock-wearing nutballs. [/QUOTE] I’ll go along with that. Ivylass, definitely a wom **a** n. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/4 "2006-08-13T02:36:03Z")
I think it’s like “Amerika” - ideology trumping spelling is a danger sign. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/5 "2006-08-13T02:37:32Z")
Then we’ll have to go along with that glurge email I always get and change the spellings of menstrual, menopause, blah blah blah. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, dumb idea; I’m over it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/6 "2006-08-13T02:38:31Z")
_shrug_ When someone does this, they probably have what they believe to be a good reason for it. I would get exercised if they tried to insist that anyone who spelt it “woman” was a tool of the patriarchy, but AFAIK this isn’t done. So I can’t get too excited. “Womban,” however, is right out. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/7 "2006-08-13T02:44:45Z")
I do not like it, Sam I am. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/8 "2006-08-13T02:47:50Z")
If I see it, I’ll roll my eyes discreetly and try to ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/9 "2006-08-13T02:50:03Z")
It’s pretty stupyd. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/10 "2006-08-13T02:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] “Womban,” however, is right out. [/QUOTE] He he he. I hadn’t even noticed that. Womban indeed. Then there’s wom!n. It looks too much like 1337speak to be taken seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/11 "2006-08-13T02:55:04Z")
I don’t know that word. I don’t acknowledge it. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/12 "2006-08-13T02:58:54Z")
I don’t like it. I would never use it. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/13 "2006-08-13T02:58:55Z")
As a female, I find it insulting, actually. Do we actually need to distance ourselves from men by not sharing the same letter sequence? Besides, the y actually makes it look Ye Olde Fassioned Spellin where there wasn’t a ‘right’ way to spell things. No women would exist without the input of a man and no man would exist without the input of a woman, so it looks like we’re sorta stuck with each other. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/14 "2006-08-13T02:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] “Womban,” however, is right out. [/QUOTE] I’ve reached a certain age. Does that make me a wombat? I hope so. I like it. Womyn/wimmin, not so much.. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/15 "2006-08-13T02:59:52Z")
This is very, very old and outdated news. “Womyn” and “wimmin” was briefly in vogue among a small subset of campus leftist newspapers, feminist radicals and Fidonet twits in the late 80s and early 90s. It’s pretty much fallen by the wayside for a decade now except perhaps among the looniest of toons. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/16 "2006-08-13T03:01:20Z")
I wouldn’t use it even if Hell froze over. It’s a crappy word. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/17 "2006-08-13T03:09:38Z")
Used in dead serious mode: Get a life Used in wry inside-humor mode: Womyn rock! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/18 "2006-08-13T03:10:38Z")
I could see my we to saying womb every time to bug the shit out of a bitchy person. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/19 "2006-08-13T03:19:21Z")
\*Outrageous ultra-PC wanker] Um… _Excuse me!_ As long as we’re talking about it, I’d like to make a suggestion. ‘Menu’ is _sexist!_ It should be _person-u_. Hello! And from now on your Sunday morning soup is ‘person-udo’. [/UuPCW] ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/20 "2006-08-13T03:20:19Z")
I find it moronic. Much like when French Fries were renamed Freedom Fries a few years back, it takes an issue that may be serious and real, and turns it into a farce. It undermines the credibility of the instigators because it is so trivial, insignificant and pointless. Besides, I’m happy to consider myself (as a woman) to be a part of mankind, and I don’t think that indicates that I’m a subset or a deviation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510.md?page=2)