from Facebook: “the Smith woman”
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I don’t recognize this construction… It could be that you read different things than I, but it could also be privilege blinders that make me miss it. Either way, it should probably die.
This construction is *everywhere.* I guarantee you will start noticing it now.
That construction seems to happen often when a man is asking another man about a woman neither of them knows well. For example, “I saw that Smith woman in your office this morning, what did she want?” It’s an interesting observation – I’ll try to keep an eye out for good examples.
Now that you mention it, I rarely hear men call women by their last name alone, even when their first name is very common. I have an extremely common first name, so men and women almost immediately call me by my last name to avoid confusion. The only times I can recall women being called by their last names alone are in a training environment where it happens to everyone.
I was referring to this usage in pop culture: I see it constantly in film and TV and fiction. It turns up on almost every episode of every variant of *Law and Order,* for instance.
If Doctor Who finally casts a woman in the lead role, will someone refer to “Joan Smith” as “that Smith woman”?
i think it would be cool if a female Doctor still insisted on being called John Smith… or if a male Doctor’s next incarnation decided he wanted to be Jane Roe for his alias. or better yet, go off earth and not need the stupid alias at all.