offended by the term 'Wench'

[VinZ]

Hi,

I have a serious prospect member for our Church. It is a nice lady from Ireland with the right mindset and great looking.
I told her that in our Church, members are referred to as Wenches and Pirates.

She would feel offended by the term 'Wench' and this is holding her from joining. She agrees to join if she can be referred to as a 'Piresse' instead. Would that be acceptable?

Has anyone there been offended by it and how did you overcome it? Personally I think Wenches are really cool.

Would the Prophet (Pesto be upon Him) agree with the term 'Piresse'?


thanks for your advice,
Vinz

[TwistedSister]

Hi back at ya!
I'm not offended by the term "wench" but since your friend has a problem with it, I suspect we can call her anything she pleases. Just let her know that usually, we just call each other by our screen names.
Hope that helps.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

To be most accurate, I think members of our Church are referred to as Pastafarians. Pirates are His favored creation, but one doesn't have to be a Pirate to realize that the universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

We're happy to call her whatever she would like to be called. As Roy points out, flimsy moral standards leave a lot of wiggle room for things like this.

[daftbeaker]

I'm willing to call her a pooface if that helps?

[Tigger_the_Wing]

Tell her to join! I'm a pirate granny! Too old to be a plausible wench.

Whereabouts in Ireland? My home is in Co. Cork.

…Uh-oh, if she's from Kerry she might not like that.

So if she is, don't tell her, OK?

[sweetlife]

nope tell her she has to be a wench ;) gotta keep them in their place LOL

[DavidH]

wench
late 13c., wenche "girl or young woman," shortened from wenchel "child" (12c.), from O.E. wencel, probably related to wancol "unsteady, fickle, weak," and cognate with O.N. vakr "child, weak person," O.H.G. wanchal "fickle." The word degenerated through being used in ref. to servant girls, and by mid-14c. was being used in a sense of "woman of loose morals, mistress." The verb meaning "to associate with common women" is from 1590s.

[black bart]

Good King Wenchless would be a good name for her.

[DavidH]

Indeed. And it occurs to me that if that etymology is right, wench is closely related to a very rude word indeed. Ten dubloons if you can spot it.

[black bart]

wancol...sounds a bit dodgy...often heard at a Rangers v Celtic match?

[DavidH]

I think you've got it, Bart. 10 Dubloons to your account.

[Horza]

Surely the etymology, no matter how suspect, isn't what makes it offensive but rather the common use and intent? I can't recall the last time I heard someone denigrating women by calling them wenches.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

Or on the flip side, the etymology of the gay bashing F-word isn't particularly offensive, and in England they still use it to refer to cigarettes.

It's never the word itself, it's how it's used. Which is why the idea of auto-censoring certain words seems silly to me, but that's a whole other topic...

[Qwertyuiopasd]

Exactly! Ha, I actually had to look that up on the wikipedias, 'cause I was like "what's so bad about scunt?"

[VinZ]

So 'Piresse' as an alternative would not be acceptable, since it is not mentioned in Scipture, right?