# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/81 "2006-08-14T01:03:58Z")
It’s just all about what you see in the word. You could say “woman” is man\* with extra added\*, just as women are superior to men. All in the perspective. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/82 "2006-08-14T01:06:32Z")
Yt’s fyckyn’ stypyd. ---
**Author:** ![Sutremaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sutremaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sutremaine)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/83 "2006-08-14T01:08:16Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Il Palazzo] 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. [/QUOTE] No no no, they’ve got it all wrong. ‘Woman’ has five letters and ‘man’ has three; therefore, men are less than women. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/84 "2006-08-14T01:16:59Z")
I haven’t seen “womyn” in the wild for 20ish years, and it wasn’t common or then. It was very, very, very infrequently used. Today, it’s frequently a strawman argument “look at how unreasonable those feminsts are; they want to change our language.” When I see it, I tend to think slightly negatively against the person who brought it up (who is usually unprovokedly arguing against feminism). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/85 "2006-08-14T02:14:45Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Excuse me, but as a Masculinist (thank you Tim Allen), I would like to suggest that you replace “bother” with “bothim”. Thank you for your cooperation. 😃 [/QUOTE] FTR, Tim Allen did not invent the word ‘masculinist’ There was an article in _Mad_ Magazine around 1969 that did a simple role reversal on various familiar situations that changing sex roles might create. I remember: A group of female construction workers comment on a man walking by: _“Get a load of the pair of shoulders on that one!”_ A group of senior-looking military brass. All females. One of them declares: _“We all know there are some things women do better than men, but if we say so, we’ll have these masculinists on our backs!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/86 "2006-08-14T02:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Yt’s fyckyn’ stypyd. [/QUOTE] If I were to ever start a Skynyrd cover band…I’d already have the name ready now. Womyn and Gentlemyn, please welcome…Fyckyn Stypyd! We’d have an awesome cover of Free Byrd. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/87 "2006-08-14T03:04:23Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] If I were to ever start a Skynyrd cover band…I’d already have the name ready now. Womyn and Gentlemyn, please welcome…Fyckyn Stypyd! We’d have an awesome cover of Free Byrd. [/QUOTE] _Yf Y lyv hyr tomorrow, would you styll rymymbyr me…_ ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/88 "2006-08-14T03:25:20Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] “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. [/QUOTE] I was shocked to see that Carleton University has a [Womyn’s Centre](http://www.cusaonline.com/womynscentre/). Apparently the name is still used. I think it’s the only time I saw this word used in a serious way. [QUOTE=Little Nemo] I think it’s like “Amerika” - ideology trumping spelling is a danger sign. [/QUOTE] And what is the connotation of this spelling? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/89 "2006-08-14T03:32:44Z")
[QUOTE=F. U. Shakespeare] FTR, Tim Allen did not invent the word ‘masculinist’ There was an article in _Mad_ Magazine around 1969 that did a simple role reversal on various familiar situations that changing sex roles might create. I remember: A group of female construction workers comment on a man walking by: _“Get a load of the pair of shoulders on that one!”_ A group of senior-looking military brass. All females. One of them declares: _“We all know there are some things women do better than men, but if we say so, we’ll have these masculinists on our backs!”_ [/QUOTE] Ah, cool. In any case, the first place I saw the concept was when I read “Never Stand Too Close To A Naked Man” when I was in the 7th grade. I think it’s the perfect book for boys in about that point in their life, personally. I liked it a lot more than his second book “I’m Not Even Here”, a discussion of his midlife crisis, the Mormon Church, and Quantum Physics (and yes, it did all tie together and make sense the way he wrote it 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/90 "2006-08-14T03:34:29Z")
Ugh, under their “Why a Womyn Center” and why “Womyn with a Y”: > [@](#): > > Wom’y’n with a ‘Y’ > In most languages womyn and men, as two sexes, have two very separate words for each. English is one of the only languages, which has the term for womyn as a derivative of the term “man”. The “wo” in women comes from the Greek or Latin meaning “lesser”. “Women - woman” is by traditional definition the “wife of man”, “woe of man”, or “female-man”. Many womyn have been empowered by merely altering the spelling of an existing word to reflect womyn’s autonomy. By changing from “women” to “WOMYN,” we have created a distinct word for our own sex. The word is still read the same, yet has the power to be much more inclusive and empowering for all womyn. Other possible spellings: > Womyn • Womyn • Womon • Wimmin :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/91 "2006-08-14T03:39:11Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] When I was going to SF State, one of the professors was [Elana Dykewomon.](http://www.dykewomon.org/) [/QUOTE] I suppose there’s some small chance she used to be named “Dykeman.” But more than likely she made up the whole she-bang in an effusive paroxysm of dykewomonly archetypal feeling. It’d be like me renaming myself **Doug Heterodude**. :dubious: The problem with _womyn_ (_womon_, etc.) is it’s not a word. It’s more of a wurd. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/92 "2006-08-14T03:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=severus] And what is the connotation of this spelling? [/QUOTE] > **[Satiric misspelling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_political_spelling#.22K.22_replacing_.22C.22)** > > A satiric misspelling is the intentional misspelling of a word, phrase, or name for rhetorical effect. This can be achieved through techniques such as intentional malapropism (e.g. replacing erection for election), enallage (using incorrect grammar for effect, e.g., "we was robbed!"), or simply replacing one letter or symbol for another (e.g., using k instead of c), or symbol ($ instead of s). Satiric misspelling is common today in informal writing on the Internet but also appears in serious po... Basically, it’s a cute way of aluding either to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia when talking about the US (presumably when you’re unhappy with what the US government happens to be doing when you spell it such.) ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/93 "2006-08-14T05:58:52Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] I haven’t seen “womyn” in the wild for 20ish years, and it wasn’t common or then. It was very, very, very infrequently used. Today, it’s frequently a strawman argument “look at how unreasonable those feminsts are; they want to change our language.” When I see it, I tend to think slightly negatively against the person who brought it up (who is usually unprovokedly arguing against feminism). [/QUOTE] Are you discussing this matter rationally? That’s not permitted. You will jump on the rage bandwagon now. Oh, and Guin: That quote is freakin’ dire. This is at a college? Don’t they have, you know, linguists on staff who can explain what the “wo” part means? I guess there are always a few people who are so wrapped up in their ideology that they’ll make up bizarre stories like that. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/94 "2006-08-14T06:13:41Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] (bolding mine) _ahem_ I think you mean “herher”. 😃 [/QUOTE] Hey, what do you want from me? Yeah, I’m a wit, but I only work at it part-time… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/95 "2006-08-14T06:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] I haven’t seen “womyn” in the wild for 20ish years, and it wasn’t common or then. It was very, very, very infrequently used. Today, it’s frequently a strawman argument “look at how unreasonable those feminsts are; they want to change our language.” When I see it, I tend to think slightly negatively against the person who brought it up (who is usually unprovokedly arguing against feminism). [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s the way I see it, too. Somebody wants to pick a fight on their terms, and they’re using one of the dumber things feminists have ever done to start things up. I think “womyn” was one of those cases where some feminists carefully took aim and shot their whole movement in the foot, without meaning to of course. We (feminists and persons sympathetic to their cause) coulda done without it. Along the same lines, gays are gonna get the shit beat out of them in the marketplace of ideas if Rove or Falwell ever catch on to the propoganda value of the fact that some gays use “breeder” as a derogatory turn for hetero couples who have babies. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/96 "2006-08-14T08:12:52Z")
Well, I just googled “womyn” and it _does_ appear to be still in use. For example : [the Michigan’s Womyn’s Music Festival](http://www.michfest.com/festival/index.htm) > [@](#): > > Within the Community Center complex you’ll find a great array of community activities and events, along with networking space for Teens, Over-40’s, Jewish Womyn, Deaf and HOH Womyn and womyn from other countries. Offering community, celebrations, workshops and special events, the Womyn of Colors Tent provides an ongoing opportunity for exploration and reclamation of our many and varied traditions. > > There is a week long Film Festival featuring contemporary films and video produced by womyn. We screen films in a starlit open air theater at night and have enclosed screenings during the day. > > The work of over 140 craftswomyn is shown in all its splendor in the wonderful Crafts Bazaar. It’s a beautiful array of womyn’s art and crafts from all over the U.S. and Canada, and a great opportunity to support womyn’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/97 "2006-08-14T12:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Meanwhile Spanish _mujer_, from the same origin, still means ‘woman’. [/QUOTE] Means both “woman” and “wife”, actually. But then, “señora” means both “lady” and “wife”; “doña” is both the term used before a female’s name to indicate special respect (Doña Isabel) and another term for “wife”… Basically, in Spanish any term that can be used only to refer to a female of the human species, can be used to mean “wife” by attaching the proper article to it. Any term that can be used only for male members of the species, can be used to mean “husband”. Any of those terms have an article in front, when used to mean spouse. “Mi señora”, my wife; “la doña”, again my wife and he’s being somewhat sarcastic; “el jefe”, my husband. As for wymmyn and girlz - I’ve got it complicated enough to get myself classified under “woman” and not “girl” (and I’m 38, FGS!), I’d rather not get more little boxes to escape from, ok? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/98 "2006-08-14T12:46:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sevastopol] It’s a useful window into an endemic pathology of modern feminism. Passive, dictatorial and trivial. [/QUOTE] Excellent article on the state of feminism (standing side-by-side with woman-hating Hezbollah) from yesterday’s Sunday Times: [Wimmin at War](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2309812,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/99 "2006-08-14T12:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] > **[Satiric misspelling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_political_spelling#.22K.22_replacing_.22C.22)** > > A satiric misspelling is the intentional misspelling of a word, phrase, or name for rhetorical effect. This can be achieved through techniques such as intentional malapropism (e.g. replacing erection for election), enallage (using incorrect grammar for effect, e.g., "we was robbed!"), or simply replacing one letter or symbol for another (e.g., using k instead of c), or symbol ($ instead of s). Satiric misspelling is common today in informal writing on the Internet but also appears in serious po... Basically, it’s a cute way of aluding either to Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia when talking about the US (presumably when you’re unhappy with what the US government happens to be doing when you spell it such.) [/QUOTE] I’ve seen writings from various “Black Power” extremist radical groups who spell it “Amerikkka” to get the KKK in there. While the whole “womyn” spelling is seen as ridiculous, these same women started the movement to make the language more inclusive, and to stop calling grown up female people “girls.” So it’s a good tradeoff. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510/100 "2006-08-14T13:39:51Z")
I’m a card carrying member of NOW with a minor in Women’s Studies from a liberal Midwestern college in the Mid-80s. Stupid then, stupid now. Frankly, there are far more important battles to fight - frankly, this one isn’t even important. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-of-the-word-womyn/368510.md?page=6)