I have a question about gender word, Human or Lizardman
The situation is ....
There is a character "Female" which her race is "Lizardman"
I asked them, does it correct to use "Lizardman" for female character ? or it should be just "Lizard" ?
Then there was some player agued that ... If that so, race Human should be called just "Hu" ?
If I remember correctly, Human is some kind of exception word but I am not sure about word "Lizardman"
Are there any keyword to google about gender issues ? I am really curious at the moment ^^!
Thank you in advance for any answers :=)
-Tai
Tai
ReplyDeleteIf you check an etymological dictionary showing derivations and word history, I bet you can figure out the answer for yourself.
Tip: don't be misled by the "man" you think you see as a suffix in "human." Instead, look for the Latin word it derives from. Think about other words from the same root: humanity, humane, humanitarian.
"man" is not a suffix. Words with "man" are compound words - noun + man.
Lizardman
chairman (now sometimes "chairperson")
snowman
brakeman
The words are not always joined:
repair man
lawnmower man
repo man
Thank you very much teacher vanessa!!,
ReplyDeleteAccording your suggestion, I found a book which looks interesting to me :)
Stockwell, Robert P. English Words : History and Structure.
West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2001. p iii.
and also thank you for you tips and examples, those one already gave me an idea to understand compound noun. Even though, there is a few point which I am not clearly understand because there is some point I have to remember by heart. There are no rules at all. Btw, I am checking it out ;)
-Tai