gender of blond / brunet / gay ?

Question

I move this query to a new post.

According to the (which I think is American, but I don't actually know whether this is a prescriptive or descriptive dictionary), blond as a noun is used of a male and blonde when used of a female. The same applies to brunet vs. brunette: the former is used to refer to a male and the latter to a female. My question is: whatever the dictionary says, how normal is it to read "he's a blond" or "he's a brunet". I'm not referring to the spelling but to the actual word. Would a regular American English-speaker say ever that? (for example a journalist in a news article).

Regarding the word gay as a noun: it would be expected to be the gender-indefinite counterpart of straight, but is it really? Can it be used interchangeably both for males and females? Could you say "she's a gay"? Or is it only used of males, actually functioning as the masculine counterpart of lesbian?

As I said, I care about real usage rather than about what the dictionary says...

Thanks a lot for your attention and/or help!

Cheers, Manuel

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi Manuel,

Didn't you already get a satisfactory answer to these questions in your previous thread?

Best wishes, Clive

Xinelo · Answer

Hi Clive,

The reason why I posted this again is that the person who replied suggested me to do so.

Although that person gave me a reply, I would like to have more opinions, as the topic of my query can be a bit subjective.

Cheers, Manuel

BarbaraPA · Answer

Okay then, here's one more opinion:

That blond over there is my new boyfriend. That blonde over there is my daughter. He has blond hair. I have blonde hair. Blond(e) can be a noun or an adjective.

I have never, ever seen, used, or heard brunet for a male outside of this forum, regardless of what the dictionary says. Brunette for a girl, in my experience, is only a noun. My other daughter is that shorter brunette. She has brown hair. I'm sure there are others who do use brunette as an adjective though.

I never use "gay" as a noun, but as an adjective, I do apply it to both sexes. (I seem to recall from the past that gay was supposed to be for males and lesbian for females, but once I heard my lesbian friends use gay for themselves, I thought it would be okay to do so as well.)

ScratchThat · Answer

I'm speaking for usage in the USA.

"Gay" is used both for males and females, and it can be used as both a noun and an adjective. For example:

"Thomas is gay."
"Susan is gay."
"Frank is a gay." (rare, perjorative)
"A spokesman for the gays declared ..." (uncommon, slightly derogatory)

"Lesbian" is used exclusively for women. Here, the article is almost always used:

"Susan is a lesbian."

As far as hair colors go, saying someone is "a <color>" is relegated almost exclusively to describing women.

"She's a blonde."
"She's a lovely brunette."

I have never heard "He's a blond", and it would sound distinctly gay to say something like that. Instead:

"He has blond hair."

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

I, too, do not hear a man described as a blond, and I only hear women described as brunettes.

I hear 'gay' used for both sexes.

Clive

MrPedantic · Answer

It seems to me that males don't generally describe females as "brunette" unless they find them at least slightly attractive.

If your girlfriend asked you to describe your new colleague, for instance, you would probably say "she has brown hair", rather than "she's brunette". Cf. "slim", "slender", "willowy".

Thus:

"So what's she like?"

~~"She's a slim brunette with green eyes and a good sense of humour, nice tan, likes to wear very short skirts, etc., etc."~~

"What's she like? Difficult to say, really. Quite thin; mousy brown hair; slightly annoying laugh; very peculiar dress sense..."

MrP

Xinelo · Answer

Thank you everyone for your replies!

In case someone's interested, this is what I wrote in my dissertation:

There is a dissimetry in the usage of these nouns describing a person’s hair colour (the same does not apply to the homographic adjective, though). Although the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary establishes the spellings blond/brunet when used of a male and “usually” blonde/brunette when used of a female, the fact is that those nouns seem to be relegated almost exclusively to describing females. Although it would be theoretically possible to read “He's a blond,” it would be much more likely to see “He has blond hair” or no reference to his hair colour at all. On the other hand, the masculine spellings blond and brunet can also be found as referring to females (see “(...), explained Melissa Maron, 25, a blond with creamy Vermeer skin who was having her hair teased and curled at Fekkai last Thursday at 7 p.m.” from Singer, Natasha “These Salons Forgo Beauty Sleep” In New York Times April 5, 2007 “Schwartz and her husband, David H. Schwartz, pointed to (...) [a] speech she delivered in June (...). Schwartz, a brunet, said, "Most of the girls were blue-eyed blonds who looked like Cheryl Tiegs.” from Sherwood, Tom “Schwartz's Life a Tale of Drive and Prejudice” In Washington Post October 20, 1986; p. A01). This implies that blonde and brunette must be treated as female-specific nouns but that blond and brunet should not be blindly taken for granted as male-specific.

Links (from quality American newspapers):
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE6DA133BF937A15754C0A96E948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=print
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2007%2F04%2F05%2Ffashion%2F05skin.html%3Fex%3D1333425600%26en%3D69a9daa8cecf2adf%26ei%3D5088%26partner%3Drssnyt%26emc%3Drss&ei=nwzlRtniHZn2nQP824DBDQ&usg=AFQjCNGdyboayC41rM2kqb2d4H_CxBQtlg&sig2=cuacIu_TIngzgjG4_VmhVw
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.washingtonpost.com%2Frawfisher%2F2006%2F06%2Fretarded_disabled_people_with.html&ei=YB7lRsjmGZWE-ALw9c3dDA&usg=AFQjCNGXueMtZ4gKklXM21XuDkP0gMAGjg&sig2=aAAxpwSLliYL-VpIvWnXgg
brunet as feminine noun

Thanks again.
Manuel

MrPedantic · Answer

Xineloa blond with creamy Vermeer skin

It's an engaging image. From a distance, tonally perfect; but from an inch or two, a network of tiny cracks...

Anonymous · Answer

I have often heard the expression, "that blond actor - David Caruso" or similar. There's no hint or thought of this meaning that he's gay, I've never heard any suggestion outside this forum that it does. And ... I'm sure David Caruso is not. Though not as common as blonde, blonde/ blond certainly is a gender affected word. I've seen it said about Brad Pitt, but to me his hair is too dark to be blond - however the point is still there.

David

gender of blond / brunet / gay ?

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