09 October 2009

Word search

Shouldn’t there be a single word to express the phrase “pregnant woman”? I realize that pregnant is an adjective, but once we’ve established that a person is pregnant, isn’t woman kind of redundant?

17 comments:

Dakotapam said...

agreed. I am at least thankful to be into the obviously very pregnant stage, where people don't give me the quizzical look, like is she pregnant, or does she not know how to lay off the Eskimo Pies?

The Rev. BT Ball said...

glorious.

BB, husband of pregnant woman

Ted said...

Is not "gravida" the word you are looking for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravidity

Reb. Mary said...

Ted, yes, but I really rather dislike the "heavy" etymology/connotation of gravida. And it keeps getting worse--multigravida? I don't think I'd be alone in my thumbs down. :D

So far, Rev. BTB has my vote. :D (Though what with glorious still being an adjective, some of the same problems apply.)

Pam, in my past experience, pregnancy is actually synonymous with not being able to lay off the Eskimo pies ;)

Reb. Mary said...

p.s. There's something glorious about "grand multipara," should one make it that far.

Melrose said...

mmmm, eskimo pies :)

Joshua Palmer said...

Perhaps the goal is to differentiate between literal and metaphorical pregnancies? This is funny because I just had the same thought about an antonym for the word emasculate.

Dakotapam said...

oooooohhh! I get to be a grand multipara after January...it should make me feel better, but when I go to a college reuinion, I still just feel fat. Gotta love that sinful nature!

lisa said...

So...my interaction with foreign languages is all via Babelfish. But thinking of the Theotokos made me think of transliterating Childbearer from the Greek. Scmeh? I got: Ellenik/Elleneek
http://stevemorse.org/greek/grk2eng.html

We could shorthand it to: Ellen

"Oh, she's an Ellen."
"Those CSPPers - they're all Ellens."

It's pretty :)

I personally like "Myrtle" - fertile Myrtle. It also has all the Greek mythology to back it - but I suppose that would make it a less desirable name for most.

The problem is neither really designates that the woman is actually pregnant at the time of reference.

Don't worry R.M. - at the rate we're going (with pregnant former-women airing themselves on You Tube) "pregnant woman" may not seem such a redundant term in the future.
:(

Rev. Larry Beane said...

Begs to differ. Gads.

Reb. Mary said...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

lisa said...

Yeh...as I was saying... :(

lisa said...

So, I just went back to the couch to finish my re-reading of That Hideous Strength and was struck with the nauseating reality that what I'd just watched on YouTube was JUST AS disgusting as what I was reading in my book.
Double :(

Erich Heidenreich, DDS said...

Well, perhaps it's important to distinguish a pregnant-women from the pregnant-rollerskate I picked my wife up in for our first date in 1986.

Untamed Shrew said...

That car is da bomb diggity!!

Erich Heidenreich, DDS said...

I sold it to a local garage mechanic who put it in a barn for storage, hoping it would be worth something someday. A few years ago, the barn burned down and the car fell through the floor with the rest of the barn falling on top of it. I believe the scrap metal has been melted down and reincarnated as a Toyota Prius.

lisa said...

Oh no! That's hilarious!