Talk:Usher
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This should be a disambiguation page. -- Zoe
- Done. -- Christopherlin 07:03, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)
This article was nominated for deletion on 1 August 2004. Following that discussion, the article is redirected to Usher Raymond. See Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Usher for a record of the discussion. Rossami 04:18, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)
In this country, anyway, when there were people who showed customers to their seats, etc., men were ushers and women were usherettes. It would have been very odd to have called a woman an usher. --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 17:43, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
But in a dictionary, or Wikipedia, it should be like "actor" to refer to both, actress is no longer used. It has become "sexist" to differentiate a job that has nothing to do with sex. It is time to help eliminate such conditions.
From Merriam Webster:
- c : one who escorts persons to their seats (as in a theater)
Encarta:
- 1. somebody who seats people: somebody who escorts people to their seats in a place such as a theater or church
Oxford English Dictionary:
- noun 1 a person who shows people to their seats in a theatre or cinema or in church.
Wordsmyth English Dictionary:
- 1. one who escorts people to their seats in a church, theater, stadium, or the like.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:
- 1. One who is employed to escort people to their seats, as in a theater, church, or stadium. 2. A man who attends a bridal party at a wedding. 3. One who serves as official doorkeeper, as in a courtroom or legislative chamber. 4. An official whose duty is to make introductions between unacquainted persons or to precede persons of rank in a procession.
If you would like to, we can put in a note:
(Traditionally in Great Britain the term usher referred to a man [male] and usherette referred to a woman [female])
(PS to Mel, I seem to have some corruption problem with your talk page, to long, of the graphics, tables, or something, don't know why...) WikiDon 18:40, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
- In this country, the United States, I have always said "usher" to both refer to both men and women. I have never in my life used the term "usherette" before.
(from WikiDon's Talk page:) Hmmm... that suggests a misunderstanding of the notion of sexism, but that doesn't surprise me. More relevantly, worries about sexism should affect the way that we use language ourselves, but our reporting of it. If the fact is that no-one would call a woman an usher (and in this country I'm pretty certain that that's still the case), then we shouldn't pretend that things are otherwise in the name of political correctness.
Did you look up "usherette" in all those dictionaries, by the way?
(I've just noticed that my first sentence looks like a dig at you; it was meant to be a dig at the times.) --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 20:18, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
