BBC 6分钟英语学习 周末_“演员”或“女演员”

Hello, catherine, here from BBC Learning English.

Just so you know, this program is from the BBC Learning English archive.

It was originally broadcast in April 2007 on our

website. Enjoy. Hello. I'm Amber, and you're listening to BBC learning english dot com in weekender.

Today, we consider a linguistic dilemma Should we call a woman who acts an actress?

Does the use of the word actor to describe both men and women make more sense?

We hear from two acclaimed actresses, fion Ashore and Zerijuana, and from David Marsh, who is the author of the Guardian newspaper Style Guide.

But 1st a little history. The word actress was 1st used round about 1700.

But women began acting on the English stage in 1656, when King Charles II permitted it.

So there's a gap between women starting to act in 1656, when they were called actor, and women being called actress round about 1700.

Then if we jump forward to 1970s and 1980s, women began to choose the term actor instead of actress.

As a direct result of the women's Movement and an awareness of gender bias in language, women began to take back the term actor.

And it's often news today, so we want to maker explains that in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a stigma, a feeling that people disapproved of being called an actress.

This was because the word actress seemed to have the connotation, or suggested meaning, of being a prostitute.

There was supposed to be a feeling of equality.

And also there was this stigma against being called an actress, because particularly in this country, in Great Britain, the name actress seemed to have this connotation of being a prostitute.

So Zoe Wanna Maker called herself an actor because it seemed more respectable.

And some people still think the word actress is pejorative.

It expresses disapproval. The Guardian newspaper has banned the term actress from its pages, deciding that actor should be used for both men and women.

So, e.g. the paper has to say that the actor Helen Mirin recently won an Oscar the Best Actress.

David Marsh, author of the newspaper's Style guide, says the change was in response to feedback from readers who thought actor should be used for men and women.

But he points out that it's very useful to have two terms.

Why? Oh, and as you listen, try to catch the informal word he uses to refer to men.

If I want to say that Judy Dench is the finest actor in Britain, that's an ambiguous I mean, she's better than the blokes.

If I say she's the finest actress, it means she's better than Helen Mirin and other female actors, which is not saying the same thing at all.

So having two words is useful because you can refer to men and women performers as two groups, and the informal word for men blokes.

Now, here's Fion Ashore, who says, the words we use are simply the words we used to using their attitudes of custom and habit.

She explains that it doesn't make the experiences of actors and actresses the same just by using the same word.

That would be humbug, nonsense and dishonest.

These are just attitudes of custom and habit, aren't they?

What words we use on one hand?

On the other hand, I think the experience of being an actress is so fundamentally different to being an actor that any illusion that making the name the same would make the experience of an actress the same, would be Hamburger, really, and would just cover the cracks.

Listen again and try to catch the expression she uses.

Describe how using actor instead of actress is just a superficial change, a change on the surface of things.

These are just attitudes of custom and habit aren't they?

What words we use on one hand?

On the other hand, I think the experience of being in actress is so fundamentally different to being an actor that any illusion that making the name the same would make the experience of an actress the same, would be Hamburger, really, and would just cover the cracks, cover the cracks.

A superficial change. Finally, the only show explains that there are so few parts for women to act that their lives are harder.

So it's not degrading, in her view, to be called

an actress. There's no diminishment of status.

She says. It's not a sign or badge of shame, but a bad job.

In young actors experience, there is one in eight parts for women.

I mean, one part, very eight parts are for men.

So a young actress's life is entirely different to an actors.

So I don't see any diminishment of status simply called an actress as opposed to an actor.

If anything, the badge of shame is the badge of pride, much tougher job, so Fion Ashore says, being called an actress is a badge of pride.

Its something to be proud of.

Now, heres a list of a language we focused on in the program today.

Stigma, connotation, pejorative blokes, humbug, diminishment of status, badge of shame.

Batch of pride. More topical stories and language explanations next time at BBC learning english com.

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