Unique Patterns

I am pretty sure that if you Google search this newsgroup for "sewist," you will find LOTS of links.

Beverly, sewist at heart, never did like "seamstress" or "dressmaker"....

Hi Melinda. Long time no see. Welcome back. Whereya bin?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Yes, but a Google wasn't really apposite, given the nature of my original query, which had been:-

Nobody really answered the question I posed, although several did point out that the word had been collectively adopted within alt.sewing as a gender-free description of one who sews. In so far as it went, I took that as an appropriate answer on this matter, but.....

I thought I had a reasonably wide and varied vocabulary, but it was a word that I'd never come across. Yes, I suppose I could have tried Googling, which would have given me plenty on background discussions, but I was really asking about useage, not a word definition!

And it still doesn't look or sound right to me. But as I said elsewhere, I bow to the collective wisdom of the group! :-))

Olwyn Mary scribbled while perusing news:45c926b6$0$16273$ snipped-for-privacy@free.teranews.com:

Yeah, Melinda - how the heck are you?

Do you have a problem with "machinist", or "dentist", or "publicist", or "artist", or "receptionist", or...

-ist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-ist is an English suffix denoting a person - it describes that person's chief duty, or belief. For example, a socialist is a person who believes in the tenets of socialism; a sexist is a person who believes that one sex or gender is superior to the other; and a receptionist is a person who performs duties in the reception area of an office. Other examples are listed below. abolitionist, abortionist, accompanist, activist, Adventist, alarmist, alchemist, alienist, alpinist, altruist, anesthetist, anarchist, anatomist, anesthetist, annalist, antagonist, anthropologist, apiarist, apologist, Arabist, archaeologist, archivist, artist, atheist

Also from Wikipedia: "A person who sews for a living is known as a seamstress (or seamster)" and I think "seamster" is worse than "sewist".

What I really loath is the female specific suffix "ess", as in sculptress, actress, mistress, waitress, ...or seamstress.

And you don't want to get me started on the "ix" suffix. As in "Executor (or formerly executrix if female)" Bah!

Beverly

Heehee. I am a wifeist, horseist or are those wifist, horsist?Too funny.

Dana

No, only sewist. As I said before, it's not a word that I'd ever come across in normal use in the UK. And because I bow to the collective wisdom of the group doesn't mean I have to like the word! :-)

'Seamster' is another word that I have not come across in common use in the UK. Which brings me back to my original question, which never was answered.

Hmm, then I might be forgiven for thinking that your dislike of the gender-specific makes you a femin"ist". But that's a whole different argument! :-)

But that is merely a hark back to the classical origins of many of our words.

IIRC those come in from the French which is a language with gender entrenched within its grammar. The -ix endings are from the Latin(?), in German the female ending is -in (teacher male=Lehrer, female=Lerhrerin) and the dimunitive is -chen which is neuter. Then there is case.......

What annoys me is when those are then turned back into the verb (a denominal verb) such as "waitressing". What on earth is wrong with the correct waiting or in full waiting on/at table?

It also annoys me when chairwoman, chairperson or chair are used. If I chair a meeting (luckily not too often) I am the chairman or if someone wants to be really formal, I accept madam chairman, and I am certainly not a chair as that is a piece of furniture.

Round here in the NW of England there are still job ads for "Machinists" and you have to read the job description to find out whether that is a sewing job or a metalworking job!

/soapbox

Lizzy

Everything in the list is a noun-ist or an adjectivist -- and the adjectives refer to adjectivism. The only one that could be seen as a verb-ist is "accompanist", and that does not mean "one who accompanies", but "one who performs an accompaniment." "One who accompanies" is a "companion".

I stand by my assertion that "sewist" is a lousy word, and we need to pursue some other language down a dark alley. The original meaning need not be perfect: "tsunami", I've been told by people who speak Japanese, isn't any better in Japanese than "tidal wave" was in English -- but it solved *our* problem.

In the meanwhile, you may refer to me as a sewing master: I'm scheduled to teach embroidery to small children tomorrow night. (It's time I drew some hearts and ironed them onto osnaburg.)

Joy Beeson

Welcome back! Hope things take a turn for the better...like right now!

Glad to know Melinda has joined us again; I hadn't seen her post till tonight, when I read Joanne's response. Emily

Praise Heaven it is something you can (eventually) work your way out of, rather something irreparable. I guess we'd better pray for your good health and energy to keep on keeping on.

Still good to see you.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Hey Joy, Thanks for your input here, because bra making software has been in the back of my mind all year. OT, but did you end up making a bra?

Pora

Pora,

Did D> Hey Joy,