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WMC Unspinning the Spin

king-size

terms like this give new meaning to the roles of kings and queens as "rulers." Retain as a specific description of bed sizes and bed linen (where the use of "single," "double," "queen," and "king" is standard). Whereas "queen-size" is relative, meaning "big, but less than king-size," "king-size" has a more objective meaning: it is the largest. Because it sings that old male-is-number-one/female-is-number-two song, you might want to use alternatives: jumbo-size, jumbo, supersize, oversized, outsized, gigantic, enormous, huge, extra-large, of heroic proportions, larger than normal/life. (But who says the king is always larger than the queen?)


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Unspinning the Spin: The Women's Media Center Guide to Fair and Accurate Language

By Rosalie Maggio


 

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