This message was originally submitted by [log in to unmask] to the ATEG list at MIAMIU.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU At 02:49 PM 11/25/97 -0500, you wrote: >Alan, I agree with you. On the semantic scale in my >native-English-speaker brain, "masculine" is closer in meaning to >"macho" than "male" is. Interestingly, the entry in Roget's II gives >"manly" as the item that should be viewed for the word "male" and >then proceeds to list "male" right after the word "macho." My >semantic netword rebels against that close of an identification. If >the author wants to avoid giving the impression of "macho" then I >think she should follow your advice. Two points. First, what "macho" has come to mean in English is entirely different from what "macho" means in Spanish (especially mexican spanish)--and this suggestion that the word be translated in accordance with an English-language misinterpretation of it (i.e., masculine" is closer in meaning to "macho" than "male" is) is a terrific example of the cultural and linguistic hegemony practiced by English-only speakers. Second, the issue here isn't "male" vs. "masculine" vs. any other synonym in **English,** fercrissake. Rather, it's the original author's point that "historiography has been traditionally considered intrinsicamente masculina." In other words, that it is male-dominated, male-oriented, male-bound, or male-inflected, *or* that history is traditionally interpreted through a masculine perspective (which is a use of "masculine" that is, I think, acceptable in the context) *or* that studies in the *field* are skewed by the masculine influence. I don't much like the translator's proposed use of "male" alone (because why is "male" as an adjective any better than "masculine" as an adjective? Both uses are metaphorical), and would instead suggest some sort of adjective compound to get the point across. W. ================================================== "This is not the way I am, but they don't want me the way I am. So I put my handkerchief on and I am the best mammy that they've ever seen, and when I come home I take that handkerchief off." -- Hattie McDaniel ================================================== Visit My Home Page http://www.unm.edu/~wendellr/WENDELLR.HTM