Monday, September 21, 2009

Please, Suffragist

J.L. Bell of Oz and Ends is far more qualified than I to discuss The Man Who Made Oz. I have to point out, though, that in the first paragraph of page two, the author, Meghan O'Rourke, uses the term "suffragette" as in "Notably, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz offered a paean to strong women at a moment when suffragettes were agitating for the vote." That always gets my knickers in a twist because my History of Women professor said suffragette was offensive. Suffragist is the correct term. At least here in the United States.

And, yes, I did believe everything my professor told me.

3 comments:

tanita✿davis said...

WOW, I'd never even heard of the -ette suffix. That sounds like a mini suffragist!

Gail Gauthier said...

Exactly.

Sarah Rettger said...

Yes. One of those words that always makes me cringe.

(Of course, some of that's just me. I cringe at "starfish" too, after spending a couple years telling kids about "sea stars" at an aquarium.)