No this isn't a debate about whether its a good idea, nor is it going to mention the Popes recent revelation .

Its about grammar. I know I'm no expert but there's one thing that just doesn't sound correct.

Why are they saying 'Women Bishops' and not 'Female Bishops'

We have been debating it in the office and come to the conclusion thats its something to do with

- Male/Female cannot be used as its non age dependant (i.e. Women implies adults)
- You'd never say men Bishops as all current Bishops are men, so this information is irrelevant
- However, it doesn't sound right to say Men Doctors either does it?

And then we started getting into a right muddle.

So. Anyone? Please help.

I don't think it is anything other than how it sounds.

There is some assonance with "women bishops", unlike "female bishops". When you talk about archbishops, it doesn't work as well so you are less likely to hear them only talking about "women archbishops"

When discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, what sex are the angels? Do angels have sex? Or even gender?

Although I know it is the usual terminology, I think "women bishops" sounds more odd than "female bishops", but maybe that's just conditioning...

Women Bishops sounds wrong, men Bishops also sounds wrong.

Male / female must be the way to go

- but why distinguish? They can all just be Bishops, I understand a Dr. or Law enforcement officer being denoted by gender as sometimes they need to do jobs that may need to be sexed (hell, that sounds wrong) but where gender makes no real difference does it matter - we aren't speaking French and gender assigning!

Agree with Big_Muzzie here.

Bishop is gender neutral as a word.

Anything else is unnecessary silliness once the established church gets over its prejudice against 50% of the population.

Be quite nice to see certain other religions treating women as fully paid up human beings too.

I also agree.

Bishops should be just called bishops, regardless of their gender.

If we are to distinguish between the two, then it should be male/female, not man/woman.

If we were treated in hospital by a nurse, it would be a male or female nurse, not a man nurse or woman nurse and I think the terms should apply to a bishop too.

Bishopess?

Think the 'ess' got dropped as being un-pc. No more actors and actress, steward and stewardess the shortest word is now an accepted cover all, and rightly so.

Strange how highness covers male and female - no wonder other countries struggle with English as a grammatical language!!

It's still an anomaly that in many languages gender is very much the issue, although the reason for "table" usually being feminine and "floor" male etc. is still unclear to me.

It's as if "la difference" is very much more celebrated in these countries.

What will a female bishop wear then, a dr*** ?

It sounds wrong because it is, as you speculate, grammatically wrong. Try talking about 'boys wonders' or 'girls guides' to see the error.

I've got the answer!

Is it because the first can be laid, while the second gets walked all over?

Neil, this is seriously off-topic, as well you know!

You should be ashamed.

In Spanish nouns ending in "a" are usually feminine, and those ending in "o" masculine.

It is important to know the difference between pajera (liar) and pajero () which is why Nissan renamed the 4x4 car after a couple of years for the Spanish market. We got it as the Shogun over here.

Similarly in French there is an important difference between la pipe (pipe) and le pipe (blowjob)

First 'set' to "carpeted" Enforcer





Ooof, Herr Freud, while you may not necessarily be described as disgruntled you give an impression of being far from gruntled.....



Bless you, my son

So when you are looking for a blowjob, gender is everything.

Well clearly, when giving. When receiving, it depends on your perspective!

Wouldn't be the first time a bishop has "worn" a medical professional...

No, my local bishop was caught inside a GP only last week.

Or was it an actress? Sorry, I mean actor. What did she/he/it say to the Bishop anyway?

Off topic, but ever so grammatical!

Or even Mitsubishi.....

You are quite right Steve, but they are interchangeable, those Japs.

So is the end result a pipedream?