People seem habitually to substitute "gender" for "sex". This is because, in an age where vulgarity is a pervasive and highly honored art, no one dare use a word for sexual distinctions that might be mistaken for when the man puts his wee-wee in the lady's pee-pee.
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I assume they were both educated words that came out of Latin. No idea which came first. I suppose gendered nouns have been around almost as long as the sexes.
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In my own lifetime it would have been unthinkable (and wrong) to say "gender" when one meant sex. "fairer sex", "weaker sex."
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agreed; i'm just a little nonchalant because i suspect the preference for "sex" was itself recent (and possibly also considered a euphemism at first)
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Looks like you just volunteered for some Fist Class Word Sleuthing. Good luck!!!
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First class, I meant. Tho' "fist" class may have multiple connotations of its own.
End of conversation
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