Quick Random Question
Dec. 3rd, 2002 05:09 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
michelleh324.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
menstrualhutWhy are the words "menstruation" and "menopause" the way they are? You know, it happens to WOMEN not men.
michelleh324.livejournal.com posting in menstrualhut
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 03:43 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-03 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-04 06:21 am (UTC)In this case, 'meno-' is a root word that actually comes, originally, from a word meaning 'month' - one's monthlies, or menses, or period. Menopause means when your monthlies stop. The fact that 'men' are the three letters used to spell the plural of the word for 'male human being' in English has nothing to do with the word. :->
no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 02:51 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-13 02:53 pm (UTC)for some reason, I think guys like reading about this stuff.
Re:
Date: 2002-12-13 02:54 pm (UTC)Mmm. Maybe I will go and stalk communities about semen. If there even are any :)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 02:57 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-13 03:07 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-13 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-14 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 04:19 pm (UTC)menses is derived from the latin word for month.
the word man in Old English means "human" and it's more or less neuter. there were prefixes denoting male and female used with the word mann, but by Middle English, man came to have its modern meaning, whereas the word wyfman (female human) evolved eventually into woman.
now, etymology is fairly easy to look up if you have access to a good dictionary. you might try learning a little bit the next time you're in a bitchy mood. you might discover a whole new world.
Re:
Date: 2002-12-03 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 04:55 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-12-03 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-03 05:09 pm (UTC)It's foolish and superficial to think that a word isn't "right" simply because three letters taken out of context make a different word. "The" contains "he" and so does "heat" and "helium", yet we don't typically think of that do we? Unfortunately, with a language containing so many thousands of words, you are bound to have words with letter combinations that, when picked apart, mean something else. Sometimes this happens with compound words where you put two words together to mean something, but more often with small word combinations it is incidental and carries no underlying meaning.
God says...
Date: 2002-12-04 05:55 am (UTC)I think your complaint was kinda cute =)
Re: God says...
Date: 2002-12-04 02:09 pm (UTC)God says...
Date: 2002-12-04 02:56 pm (UTC)but i know it
That was cute too though
*prize gives*
Re: God says...
Date: 2002-12-04 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-05 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-06 12:49 am (UTC)happen to women
but men face the wrath for either