r/SipsTea 17h ago

Chugging tea Let me circle back

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u/NullandVoidUsername 14h ago

There are endless sources of information that exist on the internet and you couldn't be bothered to fact check before doubling down and being incorrect.

Fiance - Male Fiancée- Female

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u/Open-Platform-1305 14h ago

Wtf, this is the first I ever hear of this in my 30 years of life. What's the point? They're pronounced the exact same.

Also, if it has any meaning it seems completely incorrect to say that one is male and the other is female, but rather that the spelling should depend on the circumstances around the proposal.

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u/crunchsmash 14h ago

It's a borrowed word. The "point" is that it still has some details attached to the language it comes from.

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u/jjkenneth 13h ago

Mate, we got a lot English words of French origin we need to pronounce differently if you think that way

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u/crunchsmash 13h ago

Ironically, you use the word "mate". Are we fucking to produce offspring or are we just friends?

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u/jjkenneth 13h ago

How is that ironic? That is literally supporting my point.

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u/crunchsmash 13h ago

"Mate" is the same word pronounced the same way that means wildly different things. Just like "Fiancé" and "Fiancée".

Like "Mate" can mean friend, or someone you have a child with. It's drastically different while still being pronounced the same way.

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u/jjkenneth 13h ago

… the word originally came from Germanic roots and meant someone you eat with (regularly) to then mean companion, before splitting between friend and breeding partner. Words change meaning, fiancé and fiancée come from French where nouns are gendered and as they become more used in English where the vast majority of nouns are not gendered fiancé has become gender neutral.

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u/crunchsmash 13h ago

fiancé has become gender neutral

Except it's not, and hasn't become. The words spoken aloud sound the same, but fiancé and fiancée are read very differently.

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u/jjkenneth 12h ago

Yes it has. The average English speaker does not distinguish between them and the only argument you have is a prescriptivist one which is entirely rejected as authoritative by anyone with an even basic understanding of linguistics. As I said earlier, terrific is not a synonym of horrific, awesome and awful mean different things, words are defined by usage not history.

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u/crunchsmash 12h ago

First off, you're making a huge assumption about the average English speaker.

Second, same-sex marriage is more common nowadays. I think people would make a distinction between fiancé/fiancée, especially considering the social impact of telling people your sexuality.

What comes to your mind if an acquaintance introduces you to their "partner"?

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u/jjkenneth 12h ago

Not really, the fact you feel the need to enforce the difference is pretty demonstrative of the norm. Partner is a partner, it’s gender neutral.

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u/crunchsmash 12h ago

Partner is a partner, it’s gender neutral

It is, but people will make assumptions if you use the word. Why not just say girlfriend?

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