In a previous article, I referred to a female member of the US Congress as a "Congressman."
The popular style of the day is to refer to female members of the US House of Representatives as "Congresswoman" or "Congresswomen." To do so is linguistically incorrect. The term "Congressman" does not in any way signify gender - it is a title for a position held; like "Mayor," "President," etc.
The term, like the term "freshman," can be viewed as an idiomatic term, but is more correctly referred to as a designation (from the link: "3. A distinguishing name, sign, or title"). One would never have a "freshwoman," and so there is no such thing as a "Congresswoman."
If this confuses you, please use the term "Representative." The only problem known with using that term is that so many "Representatives" do not properly represent those that elected them. But, that's a topic for a different blog post.
Congressman Marsha Blackburn is a fine example of both rules - she uses the term correctly, and represents her constituents well.
It just struck me that the term "Rifleman" as used by Appleseed, is a designation (for a skill proven).
ReplyDeleteHowever, as defined in the dictionary, the general use of the term "rifleman" would require the use of "riflewoman" for the feminine, as the term indicates a man (or woman) skilled in the use of a rifle.