Words Have Meaning

Woman vs. Women

It sounds more exciting than it is. I haven't seen this lately, but for some time there were people on the internet who confused the singular 'Woman' with the plural, 'Women'. I'm not even sure how that happened. The words 'Man' and 'Woman' are identical with the exception of the 'Wo-' prefix.

'Man' and 'Woman' are the modern equivalents of very old words designating people by their sex, which is one of the 'Master Statuses' mentioned in that old sociology class I took way back when. A master status is the first thing others notice when you walk into a room. You're a 'woman'. You're 'young'. You're 'old'. You're 'exceptionally tall'. And so on. People notice when you walk in with a group and, depending on actions and clothes, people might not notice, might perk up, or might be afraid, disgusted, enchanted, and so on.

Anyway, digression aside, 'Man' and 'Woman' follow the same pattern for plurals. 'Man' turns into 'Men' and 'Woman' turns into 'Women'. I haven't seen this mixed up in a while, but it happened and history has a habit of repeating itself.