Alphabetical Entries: C

cabin attendant/steward, ship's steward; in some contexts, merchant mariner, sailor.

woman or man. Before 1933, however, when Frances Perkins was appointed, all U.S. cabinet members were men.

see bad guy.

caddyboss, caddy supervisor/leader/director/captain.

if you need a gender-free substitute, consider: someone whose conduct is impeccable, someone about whom there hovers the odor of sanctity, someone who is beyond reproach/above suspicion/irreproachable/unimpeachable/innocent/blameless/sinless/clean-handed.

a Louisianian descended from French colonists originally exiled from Acadia, Cajun is actually a corruption of "Acadian." It usually refers to someone of black, white, and American Indian descent living in Alabama or Mississippi. Use only for people who self-identify that way.

the city name reverted to its authentic form in 2001; you may need to put Calcutta in parentheses until readers make the connection. Both are used in conversation, Kolkata mainly in writing.

calendar model.

get to the point, speak plainly/straight from the shoulder/straight out, be up front/frank/on the up and up/aboveboard. Though the expression predates the use of "spade" as a racial slur, it needs to be avoided.

prostitute, prostituted woman. Call girl services and call houses are thus prostitution services and houses of prostitution. See also prostitute.

an inclusive term, although this feeling of unity and goodwill has most often been associated with men, particularly in team sports, bars, and wars. See also brotherhood, fellowship (social bond).

see anti-Arabism.

camera operator/technician, cinematographer, camera crew; videographer; photographer.

if you mean prostitute, use prostitute. If you mean a politician who switches parties for reasons of personal gain, the term can be used for either sex.

volunteer, junior/teen/hospital volunteer. These volunteers include girls/young women and boys/young men.

used by non-Canadians, this is usually a derisive term, especially for French Canadians. The term (origins uncertain) is not traditionally considered derogatory in Canada by either Francophones or Anglophones, so Canada has its hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, and its national personification in Johnny Canuck.

this close-fitting vinyl cover, usually black, protects the front end of an automobile from insects, gravel, and the elements and is also called front-end mask, sports-car snood, coat for nose grills. When "car bra" is used to mean a radar-absorbing carbon-filter on the front end of an automobile to resist and confuse police radar, use nose mask/cap.

referring to cars as "she" is part of the association of the feminine with men's possessions. Everything that dominator societies have traditionally run or overpowered has been imaged as female: church, nations, nature, ships, cars, etc. Use car/it.

professional, business executive, executive trainee, longtime/full-time employee, careerist. Or, be specific: sales rep, paralegal, career scientist, industry representative, social worker, professor, engineer, administrative assistant. The only use for "career man" seems to be in government service. When tempted to use "career woman," consider how "career man" would sound and handle the situation the way you would for a man. See also businessman.

anyone can be a caregiver, although 90% of all caregivers are still women (Theresa Funiciello, in Robin Morgan, ed., Sisterhood Is Forever).

if you need an inclusive alternative, use heartthrob, heartbreaker, lover, great romantic, dashing lover, flirt, make-out artist, smooth operator.

the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association advises, "Recognize the difference between case, which is an occurrence of a disorder or illness, and patient, which is a person affected by the disorder or illness and receiving a doctor's care." See also patient.

the caste system in South Asia, and particularly among Hindus, is perhaps the apotheosis of hierarchical thinking. However, in the United States, we too perceive whole classes of people as better or worse than others, more or less worthy, more or less admirable; we just don't call them castes. This topic is best approached by an insider; outsiders will rarely sound authentic. See also "Untouchables."

it is not possible to "castrate" a secure, independent person; the man is not an anesthetized patient in this type of surgery. For "castrate" use disarm, disable, incapacitate, undermine, unhinge, unnerve, deprive of power/strength/courage/vigor, devitalize, attenuate, shatter, exhaust, weaken, disqualify, invalidate, paralyze, muzzle, enervate, take the wind out of one's sails, put a spoke in one's wheels. For "castrating": ruthless, aggressive, domineering, controlling, powerful, tyrannical, overwhelming, overpowering.

when women disagree with each other, the proceedings are sometimes stereotyped as a catfight. Men's disagreements are not called catfights or dogfights or anything else; they are simply arguments, disagreements, debates, discussions, conflicts, or disputes.