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“en femme{” or something else ?
For some reason I have never liked this term {“en femme ” ) attempting to describe being dressed as a woman. Maybe its the inference that a french term may sound more appropriate ?? like en route. en guarde! or “en passant” ( for chess players)
Nevertheless I very much understand the need sometimes to describe yourself as dressed as male or female in chat or conversations etc and therefore what best way to describe your dress ? Ive been very satisfied with the word DRAB to describe mjyself in male clothing as that how it feels to me.
My fervent wish is that through out this community we abolish this term ” en Femme” and replace it with “Glam”
Glam vs Drab sums it up completelyCaroline
all those in favour say Aye
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26 Replies
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As a a main “en femme” offender I a/. promise to try not to use it again, and b/. “second the motion”
Caty
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I’m an offender too but will continue to be so. Sorry but ‘glam’ isn’t how I describe my preferred style (and I don’t feel ‘drab’ when dressed as a male).
I also don’t like using the expression ‘when I am Michelle’ as I’m one person who just presents differently.
So, ‘en femme’ is a useful and, for me at least, an accurate term.
Michelle
nay
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Michelle_1 wrote:I also don’t like using the expression ‘when I am Michelle’ as I’m one person who just presents differently.I am always Adrian now – so the convenience of “are you going as Adrian or Amanda?” is no longer a way of inquiring about my presentation. Glam doesn’t work for me because, to me, being glamorous means putting on my best clothes, earrings, and shoes for a night out.
My understanding that “en femme” is used to imply dressing in a way that would not be commonly associated with being male. So more than some fancy underwear on under the hi-vis, but not necessarily wearing 4″ heels to Woollies.
But like Caroline, the term “en femme” grates with me. Probably because of its ambiguity (just a pair of female jeans or a bikini?), perhaps because it sounds pretentious, but mostly because it implies that that how one dresses is the essence of femininity.
Because “en femme” is so ambiguous I find it hard to suggest an alternative. It falls into the broad umbrella of “expressing your true self” – but that will never catch on in the title for a blog entry.
Perhaps we need a wider range of expressions? Glam, elegant, girly, smart…..
But lets give pseudo French a rest for while please. -
Oh Dear.
God save us from language modifiers. A language is what it’s going to be despite what you or I want. From time to time you have language Nazis trying to make all the others do what they want:
“Something in a pant.” (One leg of a pair of Pants?)
“Gells” (Rhymes with bells. Young females)
“Gender” (Some prude decided we weren’t going to have sex any more. The Nazis are winning on this one.)In the Victorian era, Bowdler decided to redo the English language so that no virginal maiden could possibly be offended by anything in it. He had some success.
The Frogs and Germans both tried to formalise their languages and wipe out foreign words. In the process the Germans made a complex language easy to spell. French is still impossible to spell. Neither got rid of the foreign terms. They are just too handy.
If you want to use “Glam”, lots of luck. It may catch on.
Robin
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I also do not like or use ‘en femme’… It just grates… (The same goes for ‘drab’.) I much prefer ‘frocked up’, although you do need to be careful with both pronounciation and spelling.. The informality of it suits my attitude, fits better with the way I am… So for me it’s either ‘boy’ or ‘frocked up’ and no further explanation is needed even for the uninitiated.
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Tricky stuff. I think I’m with Robin. I’ve tried all the options you’ve listed except “glam” plus “boy-mode” and “girl mode”. I’m not really happy with any of them so I’ll keep switching around depending on my mood and changing language fashions until some term wins the race
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Dear me!
I fear I may have bought this on by a post I added to last night after being absent for a few months. I never thought there would be people who would find it “Annoying” for want of a better word. Perhaps it’s my own ignorance. So .. From this moment on I’ll try not to use the Term again .. Rather, I’ll replace it with “En tant que femme” ..better I think.
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I’m also guilty of using the term but a rose by any other name. Some people must be easily upset if two little words worry them I think there are more important things to consider than trying to modify our self descriptions
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Before this all starts getting over-serious – please note the original post is in the fun stuff forum. Please keep it lighthearted!
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Didn’t come across that way Adrian but I’m pleased that’s the case. Just goes to show that we are a diverse group and what descriptor works for one doesn’t work for all.
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I was discussing this topic with a friend and asked her opinion and she agreed it was a tad pretentious, the French thing sounding upper something or other, like Mrs Bucket insisting it is pronounced ‘Bouquet’. I did a Google translation and en Femme translated as ‘woman’ but en translates as ‘in’. zso we could have ‘In woman. On the other hand ‘femme’ translated as ‘wife’.
Personally since as far back as I can recall I have used the simple ‘dressed’, as in going to get ‘dressed’. I never liked drag for myself, and I am never drab, don’t even wear trackies when shopping. I also often have a frock-up.
And yes as has been said, keep it light, it can be to serious a subject so often. Let’s have fun. -
Have to admit I am an en femme culprit but as with Adrian glammed up signifies I am all dressed up and ready to go to the ball a la cinderella. Perhaps that is how we could refer to it in Cinderella mode.
I think en femme probably stems from someone trying to frenchify being in female mode which is really how I see myself. There is me in male mode and there is me in Glenda mode or en femme. Perhaps from now on I will drop the slightly pretentious french and just be female meLove to you all as always
your feminine friend
Glenda -
The people’s vote is in.
I have done a rough search of the 16000+ posts in this forum. The counts of posts with en femme or something else is as follows
121 glam ( and glamorous)
132 en femme
386 femme
888 dressedSo it seems we have a clear winner!
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Ah ha – so what’s the opposite of “dressed”?
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Michelle_1 wrote:Ah ha – so what’s the opposite of “dressed”?
Unclothed, untreated, or unfinished – well thats what wwww.synonym.com claims!
Perhaps “frocked down”???
Or “en homme”.
There are just 95 posts in the forums including the word “drab”. perhaps it is something we don’t like talking about!!!!
