"Waitress" gets workout in CJ Cumberland Brews rev

[Robin Garr]

Not that I'm exactly PC or anything myself, but it seemed just a little startling to see Marty using "waitress" throughout his Cumberland Brews review this morning, and the editors picking it up in the headline. How do you service-industry professionals out there feel about this? Do you think of the terms "waiter" and "waitress" as demeaning, old-fashioned, or could you care less as long as an appropriate tip is dispensed?

The review is unusually beefy for the CJ at 698 words, and so strongly positive that, as is so often the case with Scene, I find myself wondering just what nits went unmentioned to hold the rating down to a flat three stars.

[url=http://cityguide.courier-journal.com/fe/RestaurantReviews/Profile.asp?businessid=46679]Trust your waitress
Cumberland Brews' Gazpacho is HOT, the beer cold[/url]

<B>Cumberland Brews</B>
1576 Bardstown Road
(502) 458-8727

I'd agree that is a little unusual, however I might not have noticed had you not pointed it out.

However, nice to see CB get some good pub. Not that they need it because they always seem to have a steady business but sure this won't hurt.

Robin, is the piece that you wrote for the LEO Dining Guide last year about shadowing the Volare server still available on-line? I found a link to it on the old forum, but the link is dead. I'd like to see it again, if you can direct me to it.

I don't like the terms 'waiter' and 'waitress', personally, and I do find it unusual in these times that Marty would use that term. I find it old fashioned, and a bit demeaning. I compare it to 'Stewardess' versus 'Flight Attendant'; it's out of date, and too gender-specific. It doesn't necessarily offend me, but it makes my eyes krinkle.

For what it's worth, I find a majority of our guests still say "our waitress/my waitress" etc. when I do table visits. It seems this particular part of our "PC" culture hasn't invaded Louisville yet.

[Robin Garr]

I compare it to 'Stewardess' versus 'Flight Attendant'; it's out of date, and too gender-specific. It doesn't necessarily offend me, but it makes my eyes krinkle.

All the flight attendants I know really dislike the term, and I think most frequent fliers pick up on that and decline to use it. Now that I think of it, this may be what struck me as off-key about Marty's column today: I think most serious "foodies" and people who dine out a lot understand that it's old-fashioned and too gender-specific. While my blue-haired mother might innocently call a server a waitress and a flight attendant a stewardess, I wouldn't really expect a forumite - or a food journalist for a major newspaper - to do the same.

The difference between stewardess and waitress is that flight attendants were assumed to be women and all called stewardesses. The terms "waiter" and "waitress" are both used, just in a gender specific way. I only use "server" if I'm really thinking about it. I use "wait" more often.

too gender-specific.

You'll have to make a case why a gender-specific term is inherently problematic or I'll start calling you on using "wife" or "daughter."

[Robin Garr]

too gender-specific.

You'll have to make a case why a gender-specific term is inherently problematic or I'll start calling you on using "wife" or "daughter."

I don't think it's a slur to use it, but the fact is that it's an example of language changing and the old term seeming just a bit old-fashioned. To generalize, I'd argue that many, maybe most, terms that sort people into categories by gender <i>when there's no difference in the duties that they perform</i> seem more like the language our parents and grandparents used than the one we speak.

too gender-specific.

I agree with Charles. Sometimes we get just a little too PC. Example: "Chairperson" is the generic head of a committee until the position is actually filled by a living human being. Then the designation is "Chairwoman" or "Chairman" as appropriate. Why don't we call the President's wife the First Spouse? (although that issue might very well come up in 2009!)

[Robin Garr]

too gender-specific.

I agree with Charles. Sometimes we get just a little too PC. Example: "Chairperson" is the generic head of a committee until the position is actually filled by a living human being. Then the designation is "Chairwoman" or "Chairman" as appropriate.

Well, I didn't really hear Charles say that, though.

I'm not really here to defend PC, and for the record, I think calling a person a "chair" is stupid.

But my argument regarding the CJ column today doesn't really rest on PC. That battle is already over as far as "waitress" and "stewardess" is concerned: The words are still in the dictionary, but they're going out of fashion, and I don't think most people in those respective businesses still use them. Again, it's not a case of it being a mortal or even venial sin, just a rather odd thing for a general-interest publication to do.

Robin said "Not that I'm exactly PC or anything myself"

This couldn't be more PC. A waitress is a female. A waiter is a male. So, what's the problem?

[Robin Garr]

This couldn't be more PC. A waitress is a female. A waiter is a male. So, what's the problem?

Nothing, if you don't mind sounding like your own grandfather. <shrug>

This couldn't be more PC. A waitress is a female. A waiter is a male. So, what's the problem?

Nothing, if you don't mind sounding like your own grandfather. <shrug>

Understand ... however a waitress is a female and a waiter is a male. Very little doubt about that. Personally I usually use the term "server".

I guess my grandfather could be "Marty Rosen".

Nitpicking about this is completely "politically correct".

Like I said, I don't really take offense to the terms waitress or waiter, I mostly just find them outdated, and a little unprofessional choice of words for a food critic. I will say that in general, I don't believe that occupations should specify gender, I just don't. But it's not something that's going to rile my feathers, and I do agree that the PC thing has gone way overboard. My comments were more specific to a food writer choosing this term than Joe Public using them.