• Steeve@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    “Man” is gender neutral in this sense, encapsulating the full species, so “woman” should probably be prefixed with “human”… Or man man and man woman.

    I don’t really like the terms “man” and “woman” for elves and dwarves anyways. How about elf “maiden” and dwarf “so similar in voice and appearance you can’t tell the difference”

    • bricklove@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      If you want go old school, you can say wereman and woman. English used to do this but the were- prefix fell out of use aside from werewolves and their werecousins

    • irmoz@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Yes, I’m aware of that usage of the term “Man”, the meme just got me wondering.

      Perhaps there’s a case to be made for elves and dwarves not even having a concept of gender - as you alluded to, dwarves don’t differentiate physically, so they likely don’t even acknowledge it at all. A dwarf is just a dwarf.

      Elves, too, are highly androgynous, so it may be a similar thing with them. Sex is definitely a thing, though, since they reproduce just like humans do. But they certainly don’t seem to have a social gender division.