Comments on: Brussels Says – Get Rid of “Pani” and “Panna”

By: Łowiczanka

Łowiczanka — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:12:33 +0000

I always use Pan and Pani when speaking to strangers in Poland. It is only when they tell me not to that I change to the familiar “you.”
Do the Belgians expect to call people “hey, you?” instead of Sir or Madam? Or Mr. & Mrs.
Not only is it a form of respect, but a sign of culture.
In Poland Pan and Pani means Lord and Lady,
while in Russia, Gospadza and Gospadzin mean Farmer and Housekeeper.
I would rather be called Pani (Lady).

By: Basia Lomnicka

Basia Lomnicka — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:35:16 +0000

Hi Thomas:
I thought of another profession where gender may still be commonly used:
“actress” is used a lot although many people resort to the word “actor” these days.

By: thomas westcott

thomas westcott — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:01:51 +0000

This is just one more reason to like or at least appreciate English for not having gender on nouns.

A police officer, teacher, mechanic etc. is just that. That is the name of the occupation with no reference to gender or marital status.

There are some antique forms for author or poet that indicate gender. One could say authoress or poetess and be indicating that that person is a she but not marital status. That form of adding ess to those words even passed the spell checker.

The only word that comes to mind that would not make any sense without the gender reference is seamstress.
So, there are some hold overs in English for gender.

But, on eliminating all forms of marital status in addressing someone seems to me to be an attack on the basic nuclear family, a diminishing of the married woman’s status. On the other hand I have never understood why the male form was only mister and that form did not indicate marital status.

One thing that we are seeing here is that ‘we’ (society as a whole and or individuals within) are consciously changing language very quickly and in very directed ways.

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:36:18 +0000

Misia,
I would use “oficer policji” for BOTH male and female cops. The whole point is NOT to differentiate between the sexes. And just after writing this post I heard on the radio the following: “pani policjant.” As Russ pointed out in his comment, native speakers frequently don’t realize just how sexist some expressions are.

Thanks Russ! That was a very eye-opening comment indeed.

Pino,
genderlessly – “osoba do sprzątania”. Which reminds me… I have tons of spring cleaning to do. Ugh!

By: pinolona

pinolona — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:39:15 +0000

One of our grammar books includes ‘panienka’ (ugh, I just googled that and wish I hadn’t).

And why is it that (male) Polish grammar teachers are lost for words when you ask them for the masculine version of ‘sprzątaczka’?