>>>>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 :-)

I doubt I was offended, even I corrected you. I get that so often that it's par for the course. If I was rude in responding (lo, these many years ago), I apologize.

Tamar