Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Confidante Login/Join
 
Member
Picture of Kalleh
posted
Today is Ken's birthday (as well as William Shakespeare's), and I wrote him a message on Facebook. At first I used a word I don't use much ("he is my confidante") so fortunately I looked it up to be sure it meant what I thought it did. It did not! A confidante is a woman?
 
Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Wow, Ken and Will born on the same day! And Ken looks so much younger!

Try confidant, rather than confidante.

Happy birthday, Ken. And many more.
 
Posts: 2878 | Location: Shoreline, WA, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of arnie
posted Hide Post
A lot of words from the French change their endings depending on gender - both nouns and adjectives. As well as confidant/confidante, beau/belle came up recently in another thread. Blond/blonde is also common, although I've noticed that, in some American writing at least, the distinction seems to be disappearing, with blond used for both sexes.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
Posts: 10940 | Location: LondonReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Kalleh
posted Hide Post
Interesting. I had no idea there were two ways of spelling it. You are right; when I look it up spelled that way, it says "one to whom secrets are entrusted."
 
Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
<Proofreader>
posted
Bruce Jenner announced he now considers himself a woman. Which made me wonder at what point in the process do you begin to use the feminine pronoun to describe yourself and what pronoun do you use when you are not quite either gender?
 
Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of arnie
posted Hide Post
I think usually the individual lets it be known which pronoun they would prefer. It's their choice.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
Posts: 10940 | Location: LondonReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Kalleh
posted Hide Post
I have been thinking about this, and since we speak English and not French, it doesn't really make sense to me that there are two spellings for the word.
 
Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of arnie
posted Hide Post
But if you are using a French word it makes sense to follow the French conventions. Some words, however, have been fully assimilated into English and use English spelling rules. The question is - how far has the process gone?

Usually, but not always, the masculine version of the word is the one adopted into English. In the case of confidant/confidante I don't think anyone would have raised an eyebrow if you were to refer a a female friend as a confidant, but to refer to Shu as a confidante would be odd. Similarly, any fair-headed person could be called blond, but a blonde would normally only refer to a woman or girl.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
Posts: 10940 | Location: LondonReply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
According to the OED, blond is most common in the US, and blonde is most common in the UK. There are Middle English citations where it is spelled with e and refers to a man.
 
Posts: 2428Reply With QuoteReport This Post
<Proofreader>
posted
quote:
There are Middle English citations where it is spelled with e and refers to a man. Posts: 2001

Obviously written by a blonde.
 
Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Kalleh
posted Hide Post
I only use blonde, for both sexes. I've never used blond. Does anyone here?
 
Posts: 24735 | Location: Chicago, USAReply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 


Copyright © 2002-12