To think that the Cambridge Dictionary doesn’t know what a woman is?

[HoofWankingSpangleCunt]

Cambridge Dictionary changes definition of woman

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d0d69d58-7b0c-11ed-bcd8-855e06175970?shareToken=145378cb575d0ff12d97278f7355f1c8

This has fucked me right off this morning.

Do they have a word for adult human female?

Clearly they're taking their cues from the Scottish judiciary.

I’m mainly furious because I’ve relied on the old “dictionarY definition of woman is adult human female” but now I have to say the less catchy “dictionary definition is adult human female, except for the captured Cambridge Dictionary peeps”.

They've just added to the existing definition to reflect how society uses the word though. They aren't the ones who decide that's how it's used, they just adapt to how it is used.

I mean, it's absolutely a load of crap but they haven't changed it completely, just added it as a supplementary definition to "adult human female"

They have done the same with ‘man’.

The Cambridge Dictionary also updated its definition of man. As well as definitions including “an adult male human being”, it now includes the definition: “An adult who lives and identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth”.

well, yes, I’d agree with you if that truly was the case. But is it truly wider society that sees a male trans -woman as a biological woman or just the eejits who think that sex is assigned at birth? I’d argued that most people would not believe that identitying as something makes that person it.
For example , I would happily identify as a cat and quite clearly a definition of cat doesn’t say “any creatures that identifies as a cat.

So a 'woman' is 'an adult female human being' or
'an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth:'

and female is
belonging or relating to the sex that can give birth to young or produce eggs:

'They may have been said to have a different sex at birth'....

Sex no longer an immutable fact....

If you heard someone talking about woman and wanted to know what they meant as you'd never heard it before then I think it helps to know that some people might be talking about someone who identifies as female. Even if you disagree with the concept.

Excuse typos, I’ve got cold arthritic fingers this morning. Perhaps I can identify as someone not disabled and then ta da! There’ll be a photo of me in the dictionary under “able bodied” in the “identifies as” categories.

What I’ve said is clearly nonsense, so why isn’t this perceived as nonsense too?

Once we no longer have the language to
describe our sex based experiences and needs we will lose the wherewithal to
fight for those needs and experiences .

As an aside, I read a great riposte to the “what is a woman?” question. Answer: your mother.

What's unicorn under this year, horse?

They have added an additional meaning to reflect usage of the word in society. This is correct IMO, it is not the job of the dictionary to agree or disagree with usage just to report used meanings.

No it will be under unicorn

Agree with pp. They don't decide these things, they essentially just report and reflect popular usage. Also, it's an additional definition, not the definitive definition. Nothing has been taken from you, calm the f down.

That's not true is it?

A dictionary definies a definition. If a definition is expanded to mean the opposite as only males can 'identify as women' then it actually means that the word and its opposite cease to be specific meanings and the word is basically redundant.

If female can also mean male, and woman can also mean man then what is the word/s that specifically define the half of the humans that are born with the biological ability to create large gametes, and what is the word/words that specifically define the half of humans that are born with the biological ability to create small gametes?

If we cannot say that certain children will grow up to be 'men' and another set of children will grow up to be 'women', then how do we explain which ones need for example, cervical smears? Or who will start to bleed from their genitals?

If a child tells a teacher they are bleeding from their genitals, will the teacher be sending them to the ER or to the medical room for sanitary protection?

If words don't mean things what's the point of a dictionary in the first place? Why even have words?

The whole point of communication is that we all understand what we mean when we say words. Women means adult human female. Not adult human male who lies.

“Our dictionaries are written for learners of English and are designed to help users understand English as it is used. We regularly update our dictionary to reflect changes in how English is used.”

OK! So that updated definition helps how?

I give in. I really do. They looked at social media and added all sorts of stupidities to 'the language'. New words used to be a rare treat. Now we get dozens every year, including chest binder this year, that are simply plucked for social media. Where language is used very differently, for different purposes.

It's ridiculous.

Society - with the exception of a small number of ideologically captured individuals who in no way represent the majority - still uses the word "woman" to mean "an adult human of the female biological sex".

Since when do we allow fringe pressure groups to redefine half the words in the English language?

We have the right to a word for ourselves which doesn't include the opposite sex or impose any kind of "gender identity" on us, but thanks to these people, we no longer have one.

“man” has always been ambiguous though in a way “woman” hasn’t until now. “man” has also always meant any person at all because we are all “man” in the sense of human/mankind.

Unfuckingbelievable!!!
This is taken from FEMALE in the Cambridge dictionary-
used in technical or scientific writing to refer to a woman or girl:
The study participants included 350 males and 250 females.
Note:
Except in scientific writing, most people find this usage of female offensive.

Offensive to use the world female. The world has actually gone bat shit mental!! No such caveats against the word male in the same dictionary.
We are sleep walking into a male dominated dystopian world where men have access all areas to girls and women. It’s frightening.

I don't get how you can be 'assigned' a sex at birth? Surely sex is observed?

I wonder what their definition of “pandering is now?
I wonder what their definition of “science” is these days?

And Merriam-Webster in the US has gone the same way, too.

This thread is already in the other forum, do we really need two? There must be just too much rage for one thread only.

I would like to see their research that backs up this change. Because apparently their experts have carefully analysed this.

No - this is tosh... ;)

They have algorithms which analyse usage of words
Those algorithms are broken - they assume that quantity of usage is an indicator of adoption of meaning - forgetting that it can simply be a few people shouting loudly... It is a part of the issue when algorithms are badly written.

The 'people' i.e. society do not in the majority agree with defining a woman in this way - the vast majority of people are fully aware that you are born male / female and that defines you by sex as a man / woman, and however you wish to present is up to you but doesn't and can't change the biology beneath.

Yet a very very small minority of people in shouting loudly mainly online distort the algorithms and you get nonsense like this... so they do decide, they decide by how they set up those algorithms - it is not reflecting popular usage as the majority do not agree with such a definition.