THE LINGUISTIC PREDICAMENT

THE LINGUISTIC PREDICAMENT 

If you can coin the word 'batter' to replace 'batsman', you might as well replace 'batsmanship' with 'battership'. Ugly pronouncement on classical usage to render gender equality. Bravo, aesthetics have gone for a toss! And, indeed, it ought to be so, considering that it is modern cricket after all with not much concern for tradition or linguistic refinement, only abrupt alterations in language being the norm whether they meet lyrical standards or not. 'Poetess', 'actress', 'authoress' have likewise been tail-clipped even as 'batsman' has been rendered genderless as 'batter'. So, what next? 'Batsmanship' to become 'battership'? Disgusting!

Written by Sugata Bose