>>>I didn't know that. I thought heir was used generally -- like actor. A person can be an actor and be male or female, even though there is also the word actress.
>>>
>>
>>and that is bad! the actor Pat Adams....
>>am I talking about a male of female person????
>
>Does it matter?

sometimes it does.
if your 14 year old daughter goes to a sleepover with Pat Adams, i ma sure you would care. So you would have to follow up asking is that a bay or a girl)

where I come from the first name must describe the gender of a person. If I would be female I would be called Petra and not Peter

for a long time I though Tamar was a man until I actually referred to her as' he' and she was offended (and I did apologize :-)