#59408 - Girls/boys and men/women

[bobtheenchantedone]

I have called my parents "dude" before.

[Emiliana]

Heh. I'm surprised at myself for not catching that, Dead Cat. I'm sure there's some sociolinguistic implication about why we say "girls and boys" but not usually "women and men," but I'm not sure what it is.

I say "boys and girls" more than "girls and boys."

I think I probably say "boys and girls" more often, but "girls and boys" doesn't sound odd to me. Where as "women and men does." In the one linguistics class I took, I learned a word for phrases like that -- pairs like "salt and pepper" that we almost always say in the same order. But now I can't remember the word, and it's bothering me. Do you know, Katya?

[Foreman]

Heh. I'm surprised at myself for not catching that, Dead Cat. I'm sure there's some sociolinguistic implication about why we say "girls and boys" but not usually "women and men," but I'm not sure what it is.

I say "boys and girls" more than "girls and boys."

I think I probably say "boys and girls" more often, but "girls and boys" doesn't sound odd to me. Where as "women and men does." In the one linguistics class I took, I learned a word for phrases like that -- pairs like "salt and pepper" that we almost always say in the same order. But now I can't remember the word, and it's bothering me. Do you know, Katya?

I don't know the word for it, but I know the Dinosaur Comic for it! And that's good enough for me.

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=759

(Also, it seems Marduk follows T-Rex's school of conflict resolution.)

[ahem.]

Fixed expressions. Also called collocations?

[Emiliana]

Collocations! That's the word I was looking for. Thanks, ahem. Also, I agree that dinner invitations fix all... There's an Arab proverb that says, "War is temporary, but tea is forever." (A bit off topic, you say? Perhaps. But I'm not good at staying on topic, as any of my students or co-workers could tell you...)

[krebscout]

They Might Be Giants is stuck in my head now.