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【導读】
作者从工作经历中遇到的不同类型的女性说起，谈到了woman一词的词源，力证让一些女士愤愤不已的woman，female其实不是man，male的衍生品，并介绍了美国女性主义先驱Susan Anthony争取女性选举权的始末。
My working life has carried me through1 three distinct worlds relating to women in the workplace. At first I worked in an engineering environment that was 100% male. I had a refreshing life change when I became a consultant2 and was surrounded by two bold, confident women for every man in the office. Finally during the dot-com boom3 I joined a group of equal male female balance but in quite a younger demographic4.
The move from consulting to dot-com was a bit of a shock. The women in my consulting life were products of women’s lib5, they were feminists. The women at the tech company were post-feminists6. There was a dramatic jump in the pink and giggly factor7. Feminism was out of fashion. But back in the days between bra burning and bubble’s revenge I remember female complaints about the word female and the word woman. Weren’t those words symbolic of women’s second class status, the feminists asked? Aren’t they just modified versions of male and man? Didn’t women even deserve words of their own; they had to share words with men?
Well, actually, no. Times have changed. Women seem to me to be more embracing8 of their femininity, but I don’t think its due to the news getting out9 that the etymology10 of these words actually have little to do with their seemingly included male and man.
In the oldest forms of Old English there was no word woman. Instead a female human was called a wife; obviously the source of our current word wife, but at that time having nothing to do with marriage. For reasons unknown, sometime later in Old English people seemed to feel the need to combine their words for “female human being” into one word. Since wife meant “female human,” and man meant “human being” regardless of gender, the combination was wifman. Easy to see how over time that would be modified to woman.
I love it when one of my word researches turn up an entry from Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary11. This thing was written back in the first decade of the 1900s by a pretty cynical compatriot of Mark Twain’s. His entry on woman includes the following:
An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man and having a rudimentary susceptibility to domestication. It is credited by many of the elder zoologists with a certain vestigial docility acquired in a former state of seclusion, but naturalists of the post-Susan Anthony period, having no knowledge of the seclusion, deny the virtue and declare that such as creation’s dawn beheld, it roared now. The species is the most widely distributed of all beasts of prey, infesting all habitable parts of the globe. The popular name (wolfman) is incorrect, for the creature is of the cat kind. The woman is lithe and graceful in its movement, especially the American variety (felis pugnans), is omnivorous and can be taught not to talk.12
Two things I need to clarify there, felis pugnans means “fighting cat”. I wasn’t sure at first about what the post Susan Anthony period was about but here’s the scoop. In 1999 there was a commemorative American dollar coin13 minted with Susan Anthony’s face on it. She looks pretty stern，not very pink or giggly. Anyway, since Ambrose Bierce was writing 100 years ago, old Susan would have been still alive and kicking. And boy she was a kicker！She fought tirelessly for women’s rights for decades, giving thousands of speeches. The most fascinating14 point of her story for me was that in 1872 she went into a polling booth15 and cast her vote for the president. But since it was not legal for a woman to vote at the time she was arrested. She and her female lawyer made what we today would consider pretty convincing arguments based on the US constitution16 about her right to vote but the Judge was what my old consulting friends would have called a male chauvinist pig17. After arguments were given he did not ask the jury18 to consider the evidence, nor did he ask for their decision. He instructed them on what verdict19 to return. Today that would be grounds for a mistrial. To top it all off20 he then pulled out his written judgment on the case, which, to save time, he had already prepared before the trial began hearings.
Susan was fined $100.
She said she’d never pay even one dollar. No one ever bothered her again to actually try to collect.
【注释】
1. carry sb through (sth.)help sb. to survive a difficult period 帮助某人度过难关。
2. consultant n. person who gives expert advice (in business,law,etc) （商業、法律等方面的）顾问。
3. dot-com n. a company that operates its business primarily on the internet网络公司；the dot-com boom网络公司热。
4. demographic adj. 人口统计学上的。
5. women’s lib women’s liberation，妇女解放运动。
6. post-feminist n. feminist（supporters of feminism）指男女平等主义者，词根post表示“后”，合起来是“后男女平等主义者”，即“后现代的男女平等主义者”。
7. pink and giggly factor giggly指“爱傻笑的”，pink and giggly factor对应的则是“小女人”。
8. embrace v. accept or take (an idea,ect) 欣然接受或采取（某意见等）。
9. get out 流传，传播。
10. etymology n. account of the origin and history of a particular word 词源。
11. Devil’s Dictionary 安波罗斯·比尔斯的《魔鬼辞典》，一本通过词条来剖析世界的书。
12. 全段释义：（女人是）一种通常居住在人类周围的动物，具有十分容易被驯服的特性。许多资历深、辈份高的动物学家都相信，它们身上还残存着一定程度的顺从。这要得益于它们以前与世隔绝的生活状态。然而，后苏珊·安东尼时代的博物学家却对这段与世隔绝的历史一无所知，他们否认女人具有顺从的优点，还宣称从造物之初一直到现在，女人都爱咆哮。在所有猛兽中，这个物种分布最广——它们出没于全世界一切可以居住的地方。因为这种生物是猫科动物，所以它们最常见的名称wolfman并不正确。女人的动作轻盈、优雅——尤其是那些栖息于美国的品种（felis pugnans），它们是杂食性动物；在经过教导后，可以学会保持沉默。
13. commemorative American dollar coin commemorative的意思是“纪念的”，所以此处意为“一美元纪念币”。
14. fascinating adj. having great attraction or charm 吸引人的，迷人的。
15. polling booth 投票站。
16. constitution n. 宪法。
17. chauvinist pig 沙文猪，指极端的大男子主义者。
18. jury n. 陪审团；评判/裁判委员会。
19. verdict n. decision reached by a jury on a question of fact in a law case 裁决；裁断；裁定。
20. to top it all off 更有甚者，加之；最妙的是，最奇怪(糟糕)的是。
作者从工作经历中遇到的不同类型的女性说起，谈到了woman一词的词源，力证让一些女士愤愤不已的woman，female其实不是man，male的衍生品，并介绍了美国女性主义先驱Susan Anthony争取女性选举权的始末。
My working life has carried me through1 three distinct worlds relating to women in the workplace. At first I worked in an engineering environment that was 100% male. I had a refreshing life change when I became a consultant2 and was surrounded by two bold, confident women for every man in the office. Finally during the dot-com boom3 I joined a group of equal male female balance but in quite a younger demographic4.
The move from consulting to dot-com was a bit of a shock. The women in my consulting life were products of women’s lib5, they were feminists. The women at the tech company were post-feminists6. There was a dramatic jump in the pink and giggly factor7. Feminism was out of fashion. But back in the days between bra burning and bubble’s revenge I remember female complaints about the word female and the word woman. Weren’t those words symbolic of women’s second class status, the feminists asked? Aren’t they just modified versions of male and man? Didn’t women even deserve words of their own; they had to share words with men?
Well, actually, no. Times have changed. Women seem to me to be more embracing8 of their femininity, but I don’t think its due to the news getting out9 that the etymology10 of these words actually have little to do with their seemingly included male and man.
In the oldest forms of Old English there was no word woman. Instead a female human was called a wife; obviously the source of our current word wife, but at that time having nothing to do with marriage. For reasons unknown, sometime later in Old English people seemed to feel the need to combine their words for “female human being” into one word. Since wife meant “female human,” and man meant “human being” regardless of gender, the combination was wifman. Easy to see how over time that would be modified to woman.
I love it when one of my word researches turn up an entry from Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary11. This thing was written back in the first decade of the 1900s by a pretty cynical compatriot of Mark Twain’s. His entry on woman includes the following:
An animal usually living in the vicinity of Man and having a rudimentary susceptibility to domestication. It is credited by many of the elder zoologists with a certain vestigial docility acquired in a former state of seclusion, but naturalists of the post-Susan Anthony period, having no knowledge of the seclusion, deny the virtue and declare that such as creation’s dawn beheld, it roared now. The species is the most widely distributed of all beasts of prey, infesting all habitable parts of the globe. The popular name (wolfman) is incorrect, for the creature is of the cat kind. The woman is lithe and graceful in its movement, especially the American variety (felis pugnans), is omnivorous and can be taught not to talk.12
Two things I need to clarify there, felis pugnans means “fighting cat”. I wasn’t sure at first about what the post Susan Anthony period was about but here’s the scoop. In 1999 there was a commemorative American dollar coin13 minted with Susan Anthony’s face on it. She looks pretty stern，not very pink or giggly. Anyway, since Ambrose Bierce was writing 100 years ago, old Susan would have been still alive and kicking. And boy she was a kicker！She fought tirelessly for women’s rights for decades, giving thousands of speeches. The most fascinating14 point of her story for me was that in 1872 she went into a polling booth15 and cast her vote for the president. But since it was not legal for a woman to vote at the time she was arrested. She and her female lawyer made what we today would consider pretty convincing arguments based on the US constitution16 about her right to vote but the Judge was what my old consulting friends would have called a male chauvinist pig17. After arguments were given he did not ask the jury18 to consider the evidence, nor did he ask for their decision. He instructed them on what verdict19 to return. Today that would be grounds for a mistrial. To top it all off20 he then pulled out his written judgment on the case, which, to save time, he had already prepared before the trial began hearings.
Susan was fined $100.
She said she’d never pay even one dollar. No one ever bothered her again to actually try to collect.
【注释】
1. carry sb through (sth.)help sb. to survive a difficult period 帮助某人度过难关。
2. consultant n. person who gives expert advice (in business,law,etc) （商業、法律等方面的）顾问。
3. dot-com n. a company that operates its business primarily on the internet网络公司；the dot-com boom网络公司热。
4. demographic adj. 人口统计学上的。
5. women’s lib women’s liberation，妇女解放运动。
6. post-feminist n. feminist（supporters of feminism）指男女平等主义者，词根post表示“后”，合起来是“后男女平等主义者”，即“后现代的男女平等主义者”。
7. pink and giggly factor giggly指“爱傻笑的”，pink and giggly factor对应的则是“小女人”。
8. embrace v. accept or take (an idea,ect) 欣然接受或采取（某意见等）。
9. get out 流传，传播。
10. etymology n. account of the origin and history of a particular word 词源。
11. Devil’s Dictionary 安波罗斯·比尔斯的《魔鬼辞典》，一本通过词条来剖析世界的书。
12. 全段释义：（女人是）一种通常居住在人类周围的动物，具有十分容易被驯服的特性。许多资历深、辈份高的动物学家都相信，它们身上还残存着一定程度的顺从。这要得益于它们以前与世隔绝的生活状态。然而，后苏珊·安东尼时代的博物学家却对这段与世隔绝的历史一无所知，他们否认女人具有顺从的优点，还宣称从造物之初一直到现在，女人都爱咆哮。在所有猛兽中，这个物种分布最广——它们出没于全世界一切可以居住的地方。因为这种生物是猫科动物，所以它们最常见的名称wolfman并不正确。女人的动作轻盈、优雅——尤其是那些栖息于美国的品种（felis pugnans），它们是杂食性动物；在经过教导后，可以学会保持沉默。
13. commemorative American dollar coin commemorative的意思是“纪念的”，所以此处意为“一美元纪念币”。
14. fascinating adj. having great attraction or charm 吸引人的，迷人的。
15. polling booth 投票站。
16. constitution n. 宪法。
17. chauvinist pig 沙文猪，指极端的大男子主义者。
18. jury n. 陪审团；评判/裁判委员会。
19. verdict n. decision reached by a jury on a question of fact in a law case 裁决；裁断；裁定。
20. to top it all off 更有甚者，加之；最妙的是，最奇怪(糟糕)的是。