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Antonija Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary

household

0Is it ok to say that somebody is 01i00preoccupied with the household02i00 or should I say 01i00house02i00 instead of the "household"?Is the rest of the sentence OK? Thank you02br
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01i00Female person should be preoccupied with the household, so she will 00nag less00.02i00 0-
  

Top answer

0 I would prefer "household", because everyone has a household, but not everyone has a house. 02br 02br 00I wonder why you choose "preoccupied" and not just "occupied". "02br 02br 00I would prefer "women" because that corresponds to the old-fashioned saying what women are meant for.

— Kajjo

  • 0 I would prefer "household", because everyone has a household, but not everyone has a house.
  • 02br 02br 00I wonder why you choose "preoccupied" and not just "occupied".
  • "02br 02br 00I would prefer "women" because that corresponds to the old-fashioned saying what women are meant for.
  • 02br 02br 00Kajjo0-
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7 Answers
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0 I would prefer "household", because everyone has a household, but not everyone has a house. Further, your sentence does mean household duties and not general house-associated work.02br
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00I wonder why you choose "preoccupied" and not just "occupied". I guess the sentence goes along the line, that a woman needs to be 01b00fully occupied02b00 with h
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0Hi,02br
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01font01i00Female person should be preoccupied with the household, so she will nag less.02i00 02font02br
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00I'd like to add a cultural note. If you say this in N. America, many people will consider it to be offensive, becaue it treats women as second-class citizens, as inferior peopl
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0Hi,02br
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00A small further note is that, if you say this to your boss, 01i00she 02i00may fire you.02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Clive12cite10I'd like to add a cultural note. If you say this in N. America, many people will consider it to be offensive, becaue it treats women as second-class citizens, as inferior people.12blockquote
10Hi Clive,02br
00 I am sure the book Antonia is translating plays and deals with just that cu
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0Hi Kajjo,02br
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00I wrote my comment because I was not sure if all the English learners who read this Forum would understand Antonia's likely intentions and attitude. I was concerned that some people might get the idea that such sentences can be said anywhere with no concern for the cultural context. In my opinion, caution is appropriate..02br
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00I
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Dear Clive,
I certainly see your point. I just figure that such sentences about women are felt much stronger than all the shocking sentences about husbands in Antonia questions... Anyway, you are surely right, that such a statement could lead to irritations.
Kajjo
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Hello everybody!

Dear Clive, thank you for explaining the semantic difference and different conotations of the two synonyms. I am aware that female persons sounds offensive. The text is ironic, but perhaps this is not the best term. I was trying to translate the word in Croatian so I must admit it was not a literal translation. It is more colloquial term for woman, which in my lan
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