"Butch" and "Femme" - Truly Antiquated Terms or More Marginalization?

[Corkey]

For the sake of argument, lets say we don't use the english word for homosexual woman, and instead use, I don't know French or German, or Swedish. Do you now see that the word lesbian doesn't always have the same meaning?

I am Cherokee, I can guarantee you our language doesn't even use the word, much less it's meaning. I am Berdache', now you can go google the word if you like.

[Cyclopea]

Originally Posted by Corkey

For the sake of argument, lets say we don't use the english word for homosexual woman, and instead use, I don't know French or German, or Swedish. Do you now see that the word lesbian doesn't always have the same meaning?

I am Cherokee, I can guarantee you our language doesn't even use the word, much less it's meaning. I am Berdache', now you can go google the word if you like.

I don't understand your argument that the fact that other languages exist somehow changes the meaning of the english word "lesbian".

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Corkey

For the sake of argument, lets say we don't use the english word for homosexual woman, and instead use, I don't know French or German, or Swedish. Do you now see that the word lesbian doesn't always have the same meaning?

I am Cherokee, I can guarantee you our language doesn't even use the word, much less it's meaning. I am Berdache', now you can go google the word if you like.

Ummm, no, I don't see how you get there. Because you can take a word in French and translate it to a German word with the same meaning. There is a French word for dog. There is German word for dog. There is an English word for dog. These are not ALL the same word but they ALL reference a four-legged mammal of the species Canis familiaris descended from Canis lupus. The German word for dog is hund. The French word for dog is chien. The German word for dog does not map to the English word for, say, bird. The French word for dog does not map to, say, the German word for cat. Presuming that someone spoke all three languages, they would look at my pooch and could use hund, chien or dog at will and depending upon the listener's tongue, that person would know that they are talking about Angus (our Newfoundland/Bearded collie mix) and not Willow (our calico cat).

Cheers
Aj