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PeonForHer -> RE: Miss Master (3/31/2009 3:19:27 PM)
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My OED doesn't mention 'peon' in relation to 'bachelor', though it does use terms such as 'young' and 'novice'. But, what the hell - I'll accept 'peon'. I only think: Imagine all the work one does for a degree only to end up as a 'peon'. And it really is a rubbish nickname, too.
[The following not specifically addressed to yourself - just some meandering thoughts]
One of the greatest, but ultimately most useless, attempts at reviving an original meaning was that of the word "Man". In the oldest sense it meant 'person' and was applied to both genders and to children as well as adults. A werman was a male and a wyfman a female.
It was argued by those in many disciplines that this 'original meaning' legitimised the continued use of "Man" to refer to "people". However, of course, lots of others began to smell a rat. It was noticed that those who promoted the continued use of "Man" held generally sexist opinions on most matters. Their argument was similar, though perhaps a bit less crude, to that of those who asserted that the origin of certain words that are now considered racist was not offensive, therefore fine still to be used today. (I've heard this sort of argument often with regard to the word 'wog' here in the UK.)
But there's more to this than mere suspicion of the reactionary tendencies of those who promote 'original, inoffensive use of now-offensive terms'. The argument that "original use doesn't matter, present-day use is what counts" usually - though not always - wins the day. 'Man' simply carries too many overtones, for too many people, of "maleness' in the English-speaking world. That modern-day meaning of it has dug itself too deep into the collective consciousness. (All this, incidentally, is at root why the word "womyn" was once coined, though failed to catch on in wider society.)
In essence, then, I maintain that the owners of words are their users, not their originators. By 'users' I mean both those who say the words and those who hear them. 'Master' is going to imply maleness for most people and it would take an awful lot of effort by an awful lot of people to change that in wider society. However, what 'Master' might imply for two people - say, a domme and a sub, privately, is an entirely different matter. If it works for them, it works for them, and that's that. Personally, I get a lovely little sub-shiver out of using the word "Ma'am" but I've long since given up trying to argue some women into the complementary domme-shiver when they hear the same word.
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