Have been over all postings to date and find them invariably interesting. Thank God, we don't have zealots here who insist on ridiculous neologisms to avoid perfectly good terms.
A couple of observations. Now that in many churches there are female clergy, it's interesting that the word 'deaconess' which was in use up to the 70s has been quietly deep-sixed; a deacon can now be of either gender and the same word is used for both. Also, the word 'priestess' is never under any circumstances used; a priest, or a bishop for that matter, is also of either gender.
Lawyers, hereabouts at least, are often addressed in writing as 'John Doe, Esq.' Of course, we know that an esquire originally was male, but you now have 'Jane Doe Esq.' I suppose that if the term for an adolescent boy in training as a knight's assistant could be used for a corporate tax lawyer, or one of the unsavory shysters who hang around the courthouse, or the ambulance chasers who prey on the parents of birth-damaged children, it could be used for a woman (not knocking the ladies here).
To look at the other sex, there is a good deal of use of the word 'boy/boys' which no one minds, as in, "See what the boys in the back room will have." In any group consisting entirely of men, they will frequently refer to themselves or each other as 'boys' or 'the boys'.
Lastly, in regard to terms used in the clothing industry, I have always wondered what, exactly, is meant by the term 'misses' sizes/clothing? I don't believe there is an equivalent in men's/boys clothes.
