December 15, 2018
"Masculate."
I learned a new word, new to me, so new I would have credited myself with coining it if it hadn't been in the dictionary. Why don't we use that word? We use "emasculate." One explanation is that it is "Now largely superseded by masculinize" (OED). Why should "masculinize" win out over "masculate"? "Masculate" is more masculine!
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I must take issue with your use of "in the dictionary". I realize that this is a common usage, but it is inherently erroneous, and pernicious. There are multiple dictionaries, they do not always agree, and none of them is definitive. Each of them was compiled by a single person or a group, and they necessarily express the opinions of that person or group. The common tendency to ascribe final authority to "the dictionary" is a category error, and is indicative of a lazy approach to understanding language.
Can we then remove the leading e from effeminate to produce feminate?
Does one become ineffable after their last day of being effable?
A very common symptom of this mental error is the tendency to commence an argument by citing "the definition" of some word, invariably quoted from some dictionary. Whatever conclusions are derived from such a beginning are necessarily of limited validity, as they are tainted by the supposition that all matters are matters of fact.
We can certainly produce feminate, but I suspect that effability is oscillatory.
"I once witnessed my opponent masculating in a restaurant with a group of notorious thespians!"
Jupiter makes some great comments, BTW.
I'm not understanding Jupiter's complaint. Althouse says she would have claimed authorship of the word but it was already in the dictionary.
If it's already defined, then that means Althouse didn't coin the phrase. Seems pretty definitive to me.
Jupiter's rant sort of an aside, and it's a thought I have often had. So in internet usage, since Jupiter agrees with me, Jupiter is either "Brilliant" or "A Genius."
Bill, Republic of Texas said...
"If it's already defined, then that means Althouse didn't coin the phrase. Seems pretty definitive to me."
Certainly. Dictionaries are useful, and in this instance Althouse used one correctly. Nonetheless, I take issue with "in the dictionary". Suppose Althouse had checked a dictionary, and finding that masculate was not "in the dictionary", claimed to have coined it?
Sounds/reads too much like masticate?
Two different lineages of etymology. Emasculate went one way and survived, while masculate went another way and was mugged in an alley by masculinize. Perhaps due to some sort of change in subject focus (masculate) vs an direct object focus (masculinize). Just my humble opinion. Sorry for all the retired-Navy-linguist speak, lol.
Sounds/reads too much like masticate
Agreed, they seem too similar.
Unless I miscalculate.
Freezing language in dictionaries is like nailing jello to a wall.
There's also "macerate" - to soften by soaking - which isn't helpful either.
To Masculate is to be Master of One's Domain.
She masculated her name from Stephanie to Shirley? There are reasons why Shirley is not as famous as e.g. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, I expect.
It sounds too much like "masticate."
Why limit our concerns to "emasculate"? There is also "immaculate" to consider:
Apeneck Sweeney spread his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe...
From "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" (T.S. Eliot)
Whether or not he consulted the dictionary first will be left as an exercise for the reader.
Masculating takes testosterone fueled energy applied by strong shoulders and arms with the powerful legs and instinctive balance highlighted by a hand grip that cannot be escaped. That's why most women do not do it.
Masculate sounds like a detergent additive one would use to get out 'biological' stains on clothes.
Why don't we use gruntled as an antonym for disgruntled?
The famous dictionary does say that 'gruntled' is in current use, although it is in the second lowest frequency range.
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