Is it actor or actress???

WHile "actor" usually refers to a male and "actress" usually refers to a female, sometimes females can be referred to as "actors"... go figure.

ahhh trust me i know about real problems I just choose not to make them a topic lol........

lets follow suit with the spanish language. :)
-d.b.j-

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No John,


Dining Technician Specialist

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This issue is one of time. In 2004, the English language has done away with most gender specific denominations of words. However, some still exist. Whenever you make a gender specific word plural, you use the masculine version of it, unless every thing in the group is feminine (talking strictly grammatical here). Therefore, in terms of English, actor applies for plurals and for men. However, in 2004, we don't separate men and women like we used to (which I think is a good thing), therefore, the gramatically masculine term, now can be used for women. There's a technical answer to your question. A less technical one is, go tell those people that actually argue with you to go...(think AVENUE Q)

Being a teacher, you learn that you can offend anyone anywhere, so you better cover your a**...Hehe. Seriously, I was teaching a lesson on belting, and I played "Popular." I had parents complaining about the "I'll teach you the proper ploys, when you talk to boys: little ways to flirt and flounce" part. Two other schools, the kids got to perform it...Go figure...

And stewardess/stewards are now "flight attendants" and mailman/mail lady are now "mail carriers" or "postal clerks" if they are in the office.

Remember the old "riddle" about the father and son who are in a car accident. They are both hurt very badly and taken to the hospital for treatment. The little boy is wheeled into an operating room. The surgeon comes in, looks at him and says "I can't operate on this boy--he's my son."

This riddle really stumped some folks for a bit...the father and son were in the both accident and both severely injured. How could the boy be the surgeon's son?

The answer (unfortunately) surprised many: The surgeon was his mother. Amazing what assumptions we can leap to based on the culture of our time.

(Climbing down off her soapbox and re-insterting "POTO" in her Computer's CD drive)

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Updated On: 6/15/04 at 01:19 PM

I was going to say that the reason the actor/actress terminology remains is because in that profession, gender actually matters. But FF sorta beat me to it, and put it in a better way. :)

Thanks for the compliment, Plum, but I think you improved upon my post.

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As I said before, if you're a plumber or a singer, your gender doesn't directly matter. (Yes, your gender influences your singing range, but that's why we have classifications like soprano, tenor, etc.) But when you're an actor, your gender directly affects your job. Most roles are written for one gender and can't be switched. Heck, lots of plays, movies, etc. are about gender. I'm not saying that actor/actress is the best terminology, but it does make sense. It isn't sexist at all.

It was actor and actress, used by pretty much everyone. Then, someone decided that it was just too darned hard to tell the difference in genders apparently and started using the term 'actor' interchangeably to mean an actor OR an actress.

Ever since then, it's just been too confusing for me to figure out. Is it an ACTOR playing the role of Glinda or an ACTRESS? Beats me!

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