Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I object to substituting gender neutral words unless both genders use the term. It's perfectly fine for a female to use "actor" (and they do) or "chairman" or "waiter." To "person"alize a title or profession and use it only for the female gender is demeaning to women, especially since men don't take the term "person"ally.
Don't you think the only "actron" would be R2D2?

Am I being old fashioned and sexist here? Here's my take on why professor emerita is just fine (and preferable): It's Latin, plain and simple. Although we use it in English, it is a rare enough word--even around universities, really--to show its roots clearly. It seems very different from actor/actress, which is an example of people not wanting to use a diminutive suffix. That's quite understandable, although given the respect actors have historically received, going from actress to actor is not a great step up.

Just to add to the emerita/emeritus question, I graduated from a medical school that had once been all female, but was no longer single sex. They referred to their graduates as "alumnae/i". Think how that sounded out loud.

That is unfortunate. I would love to meet some word-gender-revolutionaries from other countries. The freedom we are allowed here in the US is, although many times unfortunate, quite progressive. I imagine that if I were born female but identified as male, I could speak in masculine form in my every day speech to my friends and family, but might encounter issues in a more public matter. Or like you mentioned; in my job title.

My college used "alumn" as a generic term to refer to students of any gender.

Also, I'd like to add that Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker are wonderful actrons.

“Graduate” may imply that the person that has gratuated has done so only recently. Whereas, “alumnæ/i” can be used thenceforth in any number of ways. “Post-graduate” and “under-graduate” can imply certain things as well: the former, that one has “finished his/her studies” and the latter, that s/he has chosen not to or at least hasn't yet. Other than that, “graduate” seems fine, if only it weren't for the already-established connotations of having recently graduated. But it depends. Martha? Grant?

From my experience, "postgraduate" usu. implies that one has received his/her master's or doctorate. But there are different shades of meaning. Like I said, it depends.