I remember when we used to use the term spineless, both gender neutral and to the point without coarsening public discourse. It’s annoying and disappointing, but God’s Name being used irreverently bothers me far more.
True. She also could have said "intestinal fortitude" or "courage," but she got it just about right.
spineless; limp-wristed; no guts; lacking intestinal fortitude; has no seed; “he ain’t no swingin’ (well)”; hasn’t the wherewithal; hasn’t the strength to command himself, let alone others; can’t deliver the goods; hasn’t any fire in the loins; and so on, and so on.
Yes, and for that matter, I remember when the word "gender" referred to grammatical properties of words, specifically in languages that attributed masculine or feminine classifications to inanimate objects. The reason the word "spineless" is gender-neutral in English is because pretty much every word except "he," "his," "she," and "her" is gender neutral in English. The corresponsing word for "spineless" in Spanish would not be gender-neutral -- it would be modified to agree with the gender of the subject, including the gender of inanimate objects.
"El Arbol" (masc.) is a tree, "Las Parabrisas" (fem.) is a windshield, "una persona" (fem.) is a person, male or female. The word "gender" refers to the appointment the language gives of feminine "gender" to the word tree, of female gender to a windshield (more literally, the breeze or wind, "brisa," "para" meaning to stop), and female gender to the word "person" even if the person referred to is a man. Un señor es una persona. You don't say, "Un señor es un persono."
According to my dictionary, the word "gender" used as a replacement for the word "sex," as in "a person's gender" as opposed to "a person's sex," is a colloquialism. I would argue that the Spanish word "cojones" has also become an American colloquialism. A colloquialism is informal, conversational useage of a word -- it is NOT substandard or illiterate, but it is informal.
I LIKE that Palin feels comfortable using language the same way most Americans do. It's refreshing and courageous. Meanwhile, I personally refrain from using the word "gender" as a substitute for the word "sex," with the full understanding that it's just me being a hard-ass in objecting to the right and real nature of language, which is dynamic and ever-changing. I have a hard time accepting it sometimes!!!