Master bedroom

[Blackcatsalwaysrock]

I am very pleased with myself - Ive just corrected a valuer (putting house on the market so need valuations) who, walking into our bedroom said “ah, master bedroom”. No, it isn’t, I said ,it’s the principal bedroom!!! I’m surprised this language is still used!

It’s fascinating that three centuries on, people still can instinctively identify the master/slave dynamic as wrong but still struggle to get on board with feminism.
Master = racism bad!
Master = sexism - oh you silly woman!

The struggle for the emancipation of women took place alongside the emancipation of slaves because the conditions were remarkably similar - both issues of couverture, meaning that both wives and slaves had no independent legal existence. Wiping out every vestige of that concept is important.

For me a manhole cover is a manhole cover I will never call it anything else. I've spent to much time down manholes over my working life to get that to change in my head

So if 5% of black people object to the language, and 95% of them are fine with it, you will stand with the 5%?

So if 5% of black people object to the language, and 95% of them are fine with it, you will stand with the 5%?

Why wouldn't you? - assuming the 95% didn't have a valid objection to the alternative of course.

In the specific case of 'master bedroom', given that (hopefully) the concept of 'master of the house' is obsolete, the term makes less sense than alternatives such as 'main'.

They've been access covers for decades round here.

Should we say "Mistress bedroom"? Well, probably not.

Thanks - I was struggling to think of the English word for it (I've really been assimilated as German!)

How odd. I'm an American, have bought and sold several houses, and have never heard the term "principal bedroom". And I'm in New York, not some backwater.

The 'master bedroom' is standard terminology which we all understand. It means the main bedroom, not that it belongs to the master of the house. Correct things that are wrong (politely) if you want but leave alone what makes sense. Baked beans should always be baked beans, not a cup of coffee, as Wittgenstein never said.

Master isn't gender specific

Ffs, just use whatever term is best suited to your buying audience, in order to sell the bloody house and cut the drama?

If somebody masterbates are they being sexist or racist?

What if the people objecting are idiots or fools? If 95% of a group thought something was fine, and a tiny group didn't, and they didn't have a compelling argument, I don't see why anyone would feel compelled to do what they asked.

Just because someone doesn't like something doesn't mean they are being reasonable and everyone needs to accommodate without question.

I don't think that's related to the word master? I think it's related to the word hand.

What if the people objecting are idiots or fools? If 95% of a group thought something was fine, and a tiny group didn't, and they didn't have a compelling argument, I don't see why anyone would feel compelled to do what they asked.

Well sure. But in the case we're discussing, can you make a compelling argument that 'master' makes more (rather than less) sense than 'main'? Hanging on to archaic terms which don't make much sense is a bit idiotic, and doing so if it upsets a minority is just bloody minded foolishness. There's no wonderful etymological heritage at risk by dumping 'master' in this context.

If somebody masterbates are they being sexist or racist?

Nah, just shit at spelling.

It was always obvious that 'Master bedroom', like many other such descriptors arises from a gendered imbalance in power. Female equivalents to male words tend always to lose status and even becom pejorative, even when talking about socially high status titles

Master/Mistress is just one of them.

Lord/Lady is another