Sometimes you see the spelling "transexual" used on purpose. I never saw the point in writing it that way. Apparently it was devised to make some point, but whatever that might have been is lost on most readers-- it just looks like the writer doesn't know how to spel.

I heard it was invented by Riki Anne Wilchins, but what did she have in mind anyway? I searched on the internet but couldn't find the explanation. Does anyone here prefer to drop the s? Why? (not that it maters at al, just puzled).

As far as I know, transsexual is the correct spelling and with 1 s is spelled incorrectly.  You usually see this in regards to people who know very little about us.

Quote from: WikipediaSome individuals may prefer to spell transsexual with only one s, thus writing transexual. They will typically assert that they are attempting to divorce the word from the realm of psychiatry and medicine and place it in the realm of identity. This trend is most common in the United States, and is almost never used in the United Kingdom.[3] Some consider this usage to be silly and/or incorrect.

In my native Hungarian written "s" is pronounced "sh", English "s" sound is written "sz" ...

So transsexual becomes "transzszexualis" ...

... but the extra clumbersome "sz" is removed to make it "transzexual" / "transzexualis" ...

S(z)ex is a foreign loan word into a language that hasn't even a word for "he" or "she", "him" or "her" ... the language is genderless in terms of personal pronouns, the steppe nomad horsemen never even considering that the female condition was worth incorporating into language  !

But do they have problems in imported and local porn mags (?), is it "sex" or "szex", certainly its always "szexualis" (adv, sexual),  in the writing its always "sex" (n adj, sex) which would be pronounce "shex", except everybody knows that written "sex" is pronounced "szex", and that the English / US spelling has won through (thru ?) ... confusing or what ?

Languages adapt in strange ways and I would hardly br upset if "transsexual" dropped a redundant "s" 

Laura x

It isn't redundant. One -s belongs to the prefix and the other s- belongs to the base word. Both have significance.

Actually, "transexual" looks like you're only sexually attracted to Vietnamese persons named Tran.

Hungarian generally has no problem with the doubled sibilant, whether in native words like rossz or loanwords like expressz. In fact, there are examples of other loanwords from Latin where the -s from the prefix is added to the s- of the base, found in Hungarian orthography, like disszertáció. So I can't think of any reason why you couldn't write transszexualis. That's distinct from a native Hungarian compound like diszszemle which uses the z twice to show both source words clearly. Én nem magyar vagyok, de nyelvész vagyok.

"Transexual" is a legitimate spelling in Spanish, only because Spanish orthography never allows any doubled letters (except for ll and rr, which stand for distinct phonemes).

But in English? Hmm--it's like fixing something that isn't broken. As for the explanation that it's "attempting to divorce the word from the realm of psychiatry and medicine and place it in the realm of identity" -- I really don't see how that meaning follows from the mispeling at al. Whoever came up with this may have had a good intention to convey some meaning, but whatever meaning was intended is not transparently clear from the speling, so it fails in its purpose. Whereas with "womyn" or "wimmin" the intent is clear--to get rid of "men."  >

Quote from: Hypatia on June 23, 2007, 01:38:54 PM
Actually, "transexual" looks like you're only sexually attracted to Vietnamese persons named Tran.

lol

Quote from: Hypatia on June 23, 2007, 01:38:54 PM
Én nem magyar vagyok, de nyelvész vagyok.  >

But how many non-Hungarian linguists have any knowledge of Hungarian grammar !  I raise my hypothetical hat to you (its Ascot week here in Berkshire !). 

You must have some ancestry to have such a working knowlege of the language ?

Actually I've seen it spelled as transszexual(-is) on many internet links now I come to think of it !

Laura x

P.S. trying to identify your avatar pic, looks like Alma Tadema or John William Waterhouse at first impression, but I think it might be by their unknown late pre-Raphaelite contemporary Charles William Mitchell, "Hypatia", which I've seen so often in the Newcastle (UK) Laing gallery, close to where my parents live, their third best painting if you ignore the cataclysmic John Martins, after Burn Jones's "Laus Veneris" and Holman Hunt's "Isabella and the pot of basil".... 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Hypatia_%28Charles_William_Mitchell%29.jpg

wow !

Actually, I'm Italian. I just like learning lots of different languages.

Yes, you identified that painting correctly. I just mentioned the artist and title in another thread (about avatars), but I can see you pegged it without having read my post there. You must have gotten A's in art class.

I thought they were trying to save letters. Y'know, people do it all of the time!
Leaving letters out saves space on the page and then those are letters that someone else can use later. Some people spell everything out all of the time -- these are the letter hogs. Someday when we run out of letters, they will be sorry, I betcha?!

Quote from: Hypatia on June 22, 2007, 06:59:52 PM

(not that it maters at al, just puzled).

Cute speling.
Why??  Who knows.  I always spelled it transsexual.

Bev

Spelling transexual with one S makes it easier to use the word when playing Scrabble 

Riki Ane Wilchins states in the introduction of Read My Lips that some British people working at the gender clinic in Cleveland spelled it with one S. Since Riki didn't like the word anyway, zie decided to use that spelling, and to play with it.

zythyra

Quote from: zythyra on June 24, 2007, 07:42:05 PMRiki Ane Wilchins states in the introduction of Read My Lips that some British people working at the gender clinic in Cleveland spelled it with one S. Since Riki didn't like the word anyway, zie decided to use that spelling, and to play with it.

Thanks, that's the reference I was looking for. Riki, we love ya, baby, but... huh?

--native Clevelander

QuoteActually, "transexual" looks like you're only sexually attracted to Vietnamese persons named Tran.

I'm not alone!