[LAF] English Dictionary

[Volodya]

Joy Wood wrote:
> My dictionary is Collins English Dictionary 21st Century Edition 
> (published 2000).  I can't remember the name of those Russian dolls (I 
> think it's something like Matroika or something or other) which are 
> wooden dolls which nest inside each other.  I can't find it in the 
> dictionary but whilst looking for the correct word I came across 
> "matriarchy".  As matriarchy came up in our LAF meeting yesterday 
> afternoon on anarchism, anarcho-feminism and other strands of feminism, 
> I thought it might be of interest to send out this definition.
>  
> *matriarchy* 1. a form of social organization in which a female is head 
> of the family or society, and descent and kinship are traced through the 
> female line.  2. any society dominated by women.
>  
> So I wondered if they define patriarchy.  They do, as follows:
>  
> *patriarchy* 1. a form of social organization in which a male is 
> the head of the family and descent, kinship and title are traced through 
> the male line.  2. any society governed by such a system.
>  
> Hmmmm.  I can't help noticing that definition number 2 of matriarchy is 
> loaded, and definition number 2 of patriarchy is benign or at the very 
> least neutral.  So I get out my old dictionary, Collins Universal 
> Dictionary (published 1972).
>  
> *matriarchy* government exercised by a mother; descent or inheritance in 
> the female line.
>  
> *patriarchy* government by the head or father of a tribe; the community 
> under the rule of a patriarch.  [*patriarch* is defined in this 
> dictionary as the father and ruler of a family.]
>  
> One part of me says "well at least they've updated the definition of 
> matriarchy since 1972 and they now show that it would be a bad thing 
> because it would entail domination," but then I get interrupted by 
> another part of me which says, "well how come they didn't 'update' 
> patriarchy, then?  Look:  in the 1970s, the definition of patriarchy and 
> matriarchy differ only in that matriarchy doesn't include ruling a 
> community or a tribe but by 2000, the definitions differ in that 
> suddenly matriarchy does include being head of society, and definition 
> 2 of matriarchy states that this would be domination; whereas although 
> patriarchy as defined in point 1 of the 2000 definition differs 
> by including 'title' _as well as_ descent and kinship, in definition 2 
> this is not only _not_ defined as domination BUT the whole of definition 
> 2 is _benign_.  It is impersonal and only mentions a 'system' whereas 
> definition 2 of matriarchy is personal and says that it is domination by 
> women," and I immediately find myself answering my other self:  "well, 
> because we're /in/ a patriarchal society, naturally the compilers can 
> see that matriarchy would be bad but they can't see patriarchy would be 
> bad," and then comes the rebuttal, "oh come off it Joy, you can't have 
> it both ways, either the dictionary compilers don't realise we're in a 
> patriarchal system throughout most of the world at the moment so it 
> wouldn't occur to them to give a different definition to matriarchy and 
> patriarchy, OR they DO know and are deliberately skewing the 
> definition.  You can't see what's right in front of your face, Joy:  in 
> 1972 the dictionary had a pretty benign definition of both dominator 
> forms of societal organisation, but now in the 21st Century AFTER 
> feminists pointed out that patriarchy is a dominator (rather than 
> partnership) system of organising society the definition of 
> patriarchy no longer includes the word 'rule' BUT, at the same 
> time, definition 2 of matriarchy states, 'any society _dominated_ by 
> women.'  Joy stop apologising for the creators of the dictionary, 
> they're taking the piss:  after the expose of patriarchy by 1970s 
> feminists, the definitions of matriarchy and patriarchy are changed to 
> show patriarchy as benign and matriarchy as malignant when they're both 
> hierarchical power structures, whereas in the 1970s the definitions of 
> the two words were similar except that patriarchy included the word 
> 'rule'.  If anything, this smacks of revisionism, AND the continued 
> mis-representation of women, AND the leaving out of women's history (in 
> that feminists have shown patriarchy to promulgate inequality but the 
> dictionary definition does not reflect that)."
>  
> So anyway, as you can see, I'm suffering from a bad bout of cognitive 
> dissonance and I STILL don't have the correct word for those Russian 
> dolls.  Can anyone help? :)

Матрёшка (Matryoshka or Matreshka... or sometimes spelt even more differently like 
Matroska) - Nesting Doll.

Eventually i'd like to have a discussion about state control over the language, as we see 
even we go to the approved dictionary when we want to see how the word is defined rather 
than ask our fellows. But that's a completely different subject and i'll hold my horses.

                         - Volodya

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