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Blond/Blonde

sr71plt

sr71plt

Literotica Guru
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Posts
51,870
I received the following comment on a story overnight:

Is it so difficult to spell blonde correctly? Many stories are very well written, but then again... This site gets a 'D' for allowing so many typos and misspellings. There are no excuses for this lame-ass standard in the age of Spell Check... raise the standard!

Webster's at "blond" or "blonde": ;1. a person having blond hair -- spelled blond when used of a boy or man and usu. blonde when used of a girl or woman.

I highly recommend owning a dictionary and using it. And not just spellcheck (which, incidentally, being brighter than this poster, doesn't burp on the "blond" spelling).
 
It would be nice if people researched a bit before going off like that. I've learned to do it.

ETA: For a long time I would use blond to describe hair on a man, and blonde for a woman, partly because I'd taken French and was used to having to use the proper gendered adjective. Took a bit to break that habit, but I did.
 
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Thanks for this little nugget of info.

I always thought it was "blonde"...never thought it'd be different spelling for different sex.




Where the hell is my draft?
 
I was taught the 'masculine feminine" spelling of blond/blonde back in high school in creative writing and they touched on it in English I think.

So what is amazing to me is the reader does not have that basic understanding...its not something only writers would know...
 
I've always used "blond" for male and "blonde" for female - maybe coz I did French at school, or maybe because Oz schools always taught it that way.

Yep, just checked a poem I wrote in 1977 about a gorgeous little blonde girl... definitely "blonde"
 
According to Grammar Girl:

It sounds like a joke, but it's actually a legitimate question: How do you spell "blond"?

The word comes to English from French, where it has masculine and feminine forms. As an English noun, it kept those two forms; thus, a blond is a fair-haired male, and a blonde is a fair-haired female.

(However) When you're using the word as an adjective, "blond" is the more common spelling and can be used for males or females; however, "blonde" can also be used to describe a woman or girl with fair hair.
Click to expand...

GG also posts an image of an ad from Starbucks which advertises about a new "blonde roast (coffee)" which, as she says "suggests that we will love their new product more if we think of it as a woman."
 
Of course Grammar Girl has no standing in the world of American publishing, And Webster's Collegiate dictionary (by way of the Chicago Manual of Style, 2.51, identifying it as an authority), does. So, you don't really have to wonder or toll around the Internet for opinions and argue about it on bulletin boards. It's in Webster's.
 
You sound as if Webster's and the ChMoSt are your bible of spelling rules; but even the bible errs sometimes and gives contradictive rules at different pages.
 
LeatherPissPunk said:
You sound as if Webster's and the ChMoSt are your bible of spelling rules; but even the bible errs sometimes and gives contradictive rules at different pages.
Click to expand...

Well, for American publishing they are--a much better guide than whatever you personally think, I'm sure. (Bible should be capitalized, by the way, and "contradictive" isn't a word, so I trust I've made my point for writers interested in the best presentation they can obtain. :D)
 
You should do a little more research before you say brash things sr71plt.

grammar girl on wiki, possibly has more creds than even you in American publishing. I say "possibly" because I don't know if you are listed on wiki, have a B.A. in English, an M.S. in biology, an editor-in-chief on numerous websites or if you have been on Oprah Winfrey as a grammar expert... ?

Besides, nothing she said contrairs with Webster's.
 
The Chicago Manual of Style is the premier authority for American publishing. Show me where it identifies Grammar Girl as a usage authority. Or show where any other recognized publishing source cites that as an authority.

What I have is a masters degree (among others) in editing and publishing from the University of Virginia, work experience as managing editor of the government's foreign news agency and of an academic press, and a whole pile of books that have gone through the publishing process--all of which were vetted with the moderator of this forum.

What I don't have is patience for half-baked amateurs deciding for themselves what American publishing uses for its authorities.

Publishing isn't democratic. Publishers don't care a tenth as much for the self-importance of authors as they do that the readers/buyers get a standardized read. You can certainly do what you like at Literotica (until/unless it gets rejected), but that does squat for you in the world of publishing, and an attitude of "anything goes" gets you dumped in the discard bin.
 
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While I don't deny that I might be a "half baked amateur," I will go to any creditable source where I can EASILY find an answer, but let's take a second look at your source.

CMoS (online) answer for "blonde/blond"

A. Many, many “how do you spell X?” queries come to the Q&A. Such questions are of the lowest priority for replies, because we know that anyone who can reach our Q&A has access to a computer, and therefore access to online dictionaries and search engines. Except for those extremely few of you whose moms we are, we are not your mom. And if we were, we would say, “Sorry, chickie—look up your own words.”
Click to expand...

So, let's see, a half-assed website that gives a schlock non-answer or a helpful website by an well educated and widely written source? That's an easy answer for me.

By the way, Webster's lists "irregardless" as a word, though it obviously isn't a proper word.
I think that goes towards proving exactly how "democratic" the english language is. Now, if publishing uses Webster's as a goto source, then accordingly, American publishing should accept an improper word as proper and fitting for print.
 
Spellcheck

Anyone who relies solely on spellcheck is pure lazy. Writers should at the very least have an old fashion dictionary nearby. The dictionary not only gives a person the correct spelling, it also shows a person if the word they want to use is hyphenated, two separate words or all one word.
 
LWulf said:
By the way, Webster's lists "irregardless" as a word, though it obviously isn't a proper word.
Click to expand...

What Webster's Collegiate says about "irregardless" is that it's nonstandard and it refers you to "regardless." It then gives a usage note suggesting that it's still not acceptable to use it.

May I recommend to you my How-To essay on Lit. that's an introduction to using the dictionary: https://www.literotica.com/s/dictionary-smarts-can-up-ratings.

You can fight convention all you like, but it won't get you anywhere in legitimate publishing--or anyone you've taken down the path with you. When you take your writing anywhere serious, you'll find out what an ass you've been--or you won't get published.
 
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JAMESBJOHNSON said:
Explore amateur vs dilettante, Sparky.
Click to expand...

I did. Doesn't apply to me as I have both the training and experience in the field. "Dilettante, without the training" is what applies to you according to your definitions. Thanks for bringing this up.
 
With respect to blond/blonde, the OED and Websters have agreed for at least the past 80 years. Hard to argue with those two.

Can anyone cite any other similar gender 'variants' in English?. Would man and woman qualify?
 
sr71plt said:
Well, for American publishing they are--a much better guide than whatever you personally think, I'm sure. (Bible should be capitalized, by the way, and "contradictive" isn't a word, so I trust I've made my point for writers interested in the best presentation they can obtain. :D)
Click to expand...
"Contradictive" is in Webster's, though.
 
catseye901 said:
"Contradictive" is in Webster's, though.
Click to expand...

It's not in my 11th edition Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionary (as specifically recommended by the Chicago Manual of Style 2.51). Which one are you using? If you found it in an on-line dictionary, those aren't recognized as authorities by publishing.

Any particular reason you have to bring this thread up again three weeks later? Your post doesn't even address the blond/blonde issue of the thread. Just trying to display expertise you don't have?
 
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I had no idea there was a feminine and masculine difference for this word, cheers pilot.
 
sr71plt said:
It's not in my 11th edition Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionary (as specifically recommended by the Chicago Manual of Style 2.51). Which one are you using? If you found it in an on-line dictionary, those aren't recognized as authorities by publishing.

Any particular reason you have to bring this thread up again three weeks later? Your post doesn't even address the blond/blonde issue of the thread. Just trying to display expertise you don't have?
Click to expand...
It's in a couple of places. If we can't trust my New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary, well; ok. But it's also defined at www.miriam-webster.com when you type it into the word box. I just did it and I got this:

Dictionary
contradictive
adjective con·tra·dic·tive
Definition of CONTRADICTIVE

: contradictory
— con·tra·dic·tive·ly\-tə̇vlē, -li\ adverb
 
catseye901 said:
It's in a couple of places. If we can't trust my New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary, well; ok. But it's also defined at www.miriam-webster.com when you type it into the word box. I just did it and I got this:

Dictionary
contradictive
adjective con·tra·dic·tive
Definition of CONTRADICTIVE

: contradictory
— con·tra·dic·tive·ly\-tə̇vlē, -li\ adverb
Click to expand...
Oops. Sorry, I got distracted by your first question. I am not trying to display any expertise at all. Just learning about words and resources, you know?
 
catseye901 said:
Oops. Sorry, I got distracted by your first question. I am not trying to display any expertise at all. Just learning about words and resources, you know?
Click to expand...

And I'm trying to guide people to what is accepted by the publishing industry. A book editor in the American system wouldn't accept it as a word unless/until it was listed as a word in either Webster's Third New International Dictionary (which few have available, as it's the size of a Volkswagen) or Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (latest edition, eleven) (per the Chicago Manual of Style 2.51). Most professional editors will look for it in the latter and then will scratch out the "contradictive" (interesting enough, even my spellcheck doesn't accept this) and write in "contradictory."

Again, I'm just trying to help writers fall in with publishing industry requirements.
 
This was useful. Can I also say the back and forth debate over a word was quite funny. :D If I asked any of my friends they would probably distinguish between blonde and blond, but would still lose the care factor if a female was described as blond in the written form, although if publishers insist on accuracy... well I suppose it's just an extra e.

Anyway, I didn't realise I was writing the masculine version of blonde the whole time.

Cheers.
 
According to my dictionary, the term blond(e) come from Middle French and blond is masculine and blonde is feminine.

When I write, if my male character is blond, I drop the "e", if she's female, I use the "e"
 
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