Alphabetical Entries: F
147 entries found.
some Christians believe the name "Father" that Jesus Christ gives to God indicates a very specific relationship. Others, however, look back to the Gnostic and Semitic traditions from which the words "Father" and "Son" emerged, and say that these words have nothing to do with any familial roles, but that they were rather the closest worshipers could come to expressing in personal terms the concepts of Uncreated Source (God) and Reflected Image (Jesus). For these people, using metaphors for God (God as nurturing mother or loving father) is acceptable, but the idea of God having a gender is not. God is like a Father; the metaphor does not mean God is a father or that God is male. New metaphors for God are needed and more emphasis can be given to ones we already have (biblically, God is also light, rock, potter, mother, bread, wind, water, sun, fire, wisdom, judge, homemaker, physician, warrior, midwife, lion, leopard, she-bear, mother eagle, and shepherd, for example). Questioning God's gender poses a dilemma for some who see inclusive language (particularly the elimination of God as Father) as unconscionable tampering and find the challenge to faith overwhelming. When using the Father metaphor, avoid masculine pronouns in order to mitigate the strongly male orientation. See also Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God, God/he, God/his, Holy Spirit, Lord, Son of Man (Christ).
when writing about men as fathers, forgo stereotypes—that they are absent, inept, distant, or cold. Some may well be, but if you're not reporting about a specific person, perpetuating these vague notions does a disservice to men who are committed, loving, and effective fathers. It also breeds social tolerance for second-rate fathering. When writing or speaking about fathers, give them a full range of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions. See also parent, absent parent/absent father/absent mother.
parent, progenitor, procreator, mother and father; source, ancestor, forebear; originator, founder, inventor, promoter. See also forefather, mother and father.
in the sense of "to beget a child" or "to carry out the childrearing functions of a father," this is the right word. When used pseudogenerically or metaphorically to refer to actions considered analogous to begetting, it is better replaced by terms such as procreate, create, co-create, reproduce, breed, propagate, give life to, bring to life, bring into being, bring about, call into existence, cause to exist; produce, make, found, author, originate, generate, engender, establish, invent, introduce. See also mother (v.).
this term has a specific meaning and may need to be retained. For sex-neutral alternatives, consider role model, mentor, idol, hero.
God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit; the God who created us, the God who redeemed us, and the God who continues to work through us to make us holy; Creator, Savior, and Healer; Source, Servant, and Guide; Creator, Liberator, and Advocate; the Holy Trinity; Three in One; One in Three; the Triune God. When choosing alternatives, be aware that some describe who God is ("God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit") while others describe what God does ("Creator, Savior, and Healer"). Some people object to the overuse of God-as-function terms.
homeland, native land/country/soil, home, home/birth country, land of one's ancestors, natal place, the old country, country.
orphaned, parentless.
replace this vague adjective with precise ones: warm, nurturing, loving, kind, kindly, protective, supportive, caring, solicitous, considerate, interested, benevolent, good-natured, fond, affectionate, devoted, tender, gentle, demonstrative, sympathetic, understanding, indulgent, obliging, forbearing, tolerant, well-meaning, sheltering, generous. These adjectives also apply to women; they are not synonyms for "fatherly" but rather what the culture seems to understand by the word.
ancestors, forebears, progenitors, precursors, predecessors, forerunners, leaders, pioneers, founders, trailblazers, innovators, fathers and mothers.
leave as is; historically accurate. See also church father.
during her vice-presidential campaign, Geraldine Ferraro was referred to as "spunky" and "feisty"; Michael Geis (The Language of Politics ) says both words are normally reserved for individuals and animals that are not inherently potent or powerful; "one can call a Pekinese dog spunky or feisty, but one would not, I think, call a Great Dane spunky or feisty." And the press would certainly not have labeled President George Bush, then Ferraro's opponent, as spunky or feisty. "Numerous examples of the special or sexist treatment of female leaders include ... use of the terms 'oppressive,' 'feisty,' and 'pushy' to describe behavior in women that would be called 'tough' and 'decisive' in men" (Thalia Zepatos and Elizabeth Kaufman, Women for a Change ). See also perky/pert.
fellow is often considered to be used inclusively; women receiving academic fellowships are called fellows, for example, and among its dictionary definitions are many inclusive concepts. However, if you say, "Today I saw a fellow throwing away $100 bills," there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the distributor of largesse was a man. The folksy "fella/feller" is also incontestably masculine. It has a history of being used for women: in 1932, for example, Gertrude Atherton (Adventures of a Novelist ) wrote, "She may have lost her beauty and allure, but she was a good fellow, mixed cocktails for them, and was witty and amusing." If you want a substitute for the noun, consider person, partner, colleague, co-worker, companion, counterpart, associate, ally, comrade, friend, acquaintance, peer. For the adjective, use similar, alike, analogous, comparable, parallel, matching, corresponding, coinciding, like, something like, other, related, akin, equal, equivalent, associate(d), united, connected. For the academic "fellow," you can sometimes use scholar, recipient, postgraduate student.
friends and neighbors, all of us, compatriots. Reword the sentence to avoid this term if the alternatives don't work. See also compatriot, countryman, fellow man/men, my fellow Americans.
sympathy, understanding, compassion, commiseration, empathy, rapport, link, bond, union, tie, closeness, affinity, friendship, agape, pity, walking in someone else's shoes, putting oneself in someone else's place.
in most cases, "fellow" is superfluous. We are so used to hearing this catch-all term in certain contexts that we don't question its necessity. Be specific: other people, you, citizens, workers, another human being, all of us here, the average person, etc. See also man/Man (pseudogeneric).
traveling companion, other traveler.
coworker, colleague, associate, teammate, partner.
when used officially, retain; otherwise consider scholarship, assistantship, internship, stipend, subsidy, honorarium.
friendship, companionship, solidarity, communion, union, unity, unity of mind and spirit, association, camaraderie, comradeship, partnership, togetherness, collaboration, participation, esprit de corps, neighborliness, sharing, amity, good will, bonding, friendliness, conviviality, sodality, human community/kinship, kinship, humanity, family, the human family; society, assembly, community, organization, club, group, federation, corporation. The substitute most often used for "fellowship" in religious materials is "communion." See also brotherhood (pseudogeneric), fellowship (scholarship).
feminism, women's liberation movement, women's liberation, women's movement, female liberation movement. See also shortened forms of words.
female is used as a noun only in technical writing (medicine, statistics, police reports, sociology). It is most often reserved for biological or nonhuman references. When using "female," use the parallel "male," not "man." "Female" is not sexist because it contains "male." Dennis Baron (Grammar and Gender) says, "Actually female derives from the Latin femella , a diminutive of femina , 'woman.' It is completely unrelated to male …" See also female (adj.).
never refer to FGM as "female circumcision." This "procedure," which the World Health Organization says has been undergone by more than 200 million women in 30 countries (mainly in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, although FGM is also practiced within immigrant communities in the U.S. and Europe), differs radically from male circumcision: It is always a sexual mutilation; it is often performed without anesthesia by nonprofessionals (usually village healers and elderly female relatives), most often with unsterilized razor blades; it often leads to infection, life-threatening blood loss, painful intercourse, infertility, difficult childbirth, and death. This mutilation of the external female genital organs (specifically, clitoridectomy, excision, and infibulation) is a centuries-old rite of passage, intended to ensure that young women become desirable wives. It is not mandated by any particular religion but is practiced by people of many faiths.