Wednesday, 15 July 2009 10:18 am
(no subject)
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deckardcanineI've complained before about celebrity news sources, especially IMDb, saying that a man "became a father again" when he hadn't stopped being a father to the first child. It's now happened enough times that I've stopped pointing out instances.
Unfortunately, my parents noted the difficulty in finding a suitable substitute. To say that a man "had" a second child evokes anatomical confusion, even tho a man and a woman can "have" a child together. "Sired" is crude. "Begot" is archaic. "Welcomed" is so '50s. The best I can think to do is rework the sentence: "[Man] now has a second child, born Monday...."
What other languages have this problem, I wonder? English is so clumsy. Good thing clumsiness can be endearing.
Unfortunately, my parents noted the difficulty in finding a suitable substitute. To say that a man "had" a second child evokes anatomical confusion, even tho a man and a woman can "have" a child together. "Sired" is crude. "Begot" is archaic. "Welcomed" is so '50s. The best I can think to do is rework the sentence: "[Man] now has a second child, born Monday...."
What other languages have this problem, I wonder? English is so clumsy. Good thing clumsiness can be endearing.