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Post by Verbivore on Jul 2, 2008 11:08:03 GMT
The Mercedes bloke should be a Lenkradledernähmeister. Obviously Danke schön, Noel. ;D Steering-wheel-leather-stitching-master: a new word for my pathetic little Deutsch lexicon. I love the way German allows for neologism building by simply adding the component words together. For English, however, the best suggestion to date I think has been sewor - though hoi polloi might not get it and, following current trends, it would probably revert to sewer. |
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Post by Barry on Jul 2, 2008 15:38:40 GMT
Vv,
Now you've cleared up what this chap does (all that cutting, measuring, clever leather-working, as well as stitching), surely, it goes back to an original word. He's a tailor.
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Post by Dave M on Jul 2, 2008 15:47:47 GMT
Nah - it's a custom-made steering wheel, so he's ... er ... a customer  |
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Post by Alan Palmer on Jul 2, 2008 15:53:54 GMT
The Mercedes bloke should be a Lenkradledernähmeister. Obviously Erm ... Yes. Blatantly obviously. ( ) |
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Post by Tone on Jul 2, 2008 21:00:37 GMT
I always thought that a machinist was someone that worked a lathe.
But we've got a fellow at work who used to be a wood machinist (and was employed as such).
Tone
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Post by suvvern on Jul 3, 2008 0:47:51 GMT
Sewer I would always read as "waste product conduit" and I think a tailor is always thought of as a male. Seamstress is a good word, but I don't know whether it covers all the work involved. I rather liked "Needle Operative" until I thought that maybe that would be understood by some people as a euphemism for a junkie  Aside If words beginning with vowels are preceded by an rather than a is it correct to write a euphemism as when spoken, the word begins with a "Y for yoo" sound ? |
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ianm
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Post by ianm on Jul 3, 2008 7:04:36 GMT
How about "seamster"?
There's an ironic trend among the pc to do away with gender-specific titles. Waiters and waitresses become "servers".
In some cases, the feminine variant is dropped and the masculine version adopted. In NZ, for example, the acting profession now consists only of actors (male and/or female). There are no actresses. The same female actors who style themselves thus would rightly scream with indignation if they were referred to as female men.
It surprises me (and pleases me!) that pc world HQ (California) still differentiates between actors and actresses on Oscar night.
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Post by Dave M on Jul 3, 2008 8:19:29 GMT
> If words beginning with vowels are preceded by an rather than a is it correct to write a euphemism as when spoken, the word begins with a "Y for yoo" sound ? <
You've got the "rule" slightly wrong, suvvern: it's words beginning with a vowel sound which take "an". Hence:
An apple/acorn, elephant/e-mail, igloo/icon, orange/omen, umbrella/urgency/uber-pedant - and indeed an honour (h not being a vowel), but ...
A euphemism or unicorn (which begin with a "yuh" sound).
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Post by Dave M on Jul 3, 2008 8:21:28 GMT
> The same female actors who style themselves thus would rightly scream with indignation if they were referred to as female men. <
But that's not comparable, is it? "Actor" doesn't imply masculinity - it mentions one (any one) who acts.
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Post by Vadim on Jul 3, 2008 9:16:43 GMT
> The same female actors who style themselves thus would rightly scream with indignation if they were referred to as female men. < But that's not comparable, is it? "Actor" doesn't imply masculinity - it mentions one (any one) who acts. That's what I thought, and it confused me also, Dave. To be fair though, isn't Actor definitely the masculine, as there exists a feminine? I was thinking of Engineer, however, this is gender-neutral as I don't recall an Engineeress etc.? |
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noel
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Post by noel on Jul 3, 2008 9:32:39 GMT
A friend who's a female acting professional told me that she rigorously stuck to 'actor' throughout the 90s, but gradually went back to using 'actress'. Her reason/rationalisation is that, unlike, say, a shop manager, male and female thespians are not competing against each other for parts.
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Post by Bertie on Jul 3, 2008 20:07:20 GMT
> If words beginning with vowels are preceded by an rather than a is it correct to write a euphemism as when spoken, the word begins with a "Y for yoo" sound ? < You've got the "rule" slightly wrong, suvvern: it's words beginning with a vowel sound which take "an". Hence: An apple/acorn, elephant/e-mail, igloo/icon, orange/omen, umbrella/urgency/uber-pedant - and indeed an honour (h not being a vowel), but ... A euphemism or unicorn (which begin with a "yuh" sound). Here is my take: The letter H is spelt phonetically as "aitch", likewise F is "eff". Thus, though neither are intrinsically vowels, they both take "an". It makes sense - try saying "a eff", or a "aitch". |
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Post by Geoff on Jul 3, 2008 20:59:18 GMT
... or a historic whatever. Grates every time I hear it because the speaker seems to have as much trouble saying it (and I have as much trouble reading it) as saying a "aitch"; but it seems to be becoming more and more common in both speech and writing.
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Post by TfS on Jul 5, 2008 14:05:42 GMT
The Mercedes bloke should be a Lenkradledernähmeister. Obviously  |
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Post by Bertie on Jul 7, 2008 17:18:20 GMT
Noel already said that.
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