Forum: Author Hangout

Redhead vs Red-haired

PotomacBob 🚫

"Look at that redhead in the gray business suit."
I am guilty of having spoken that sentence to an acquaintance of mine.
She was all over me like a hen on a june-bug.
"She is not red-headed. She does not have a red head. What she has is red hair."
"What is this? Some sort of feminist B.S.," I asked.
"You're always correcting me," she said. "I owe you one or maybe even a dozen."
"What should I have said."
"If you want to be accurate, you ought to have said 'red-haired.'"
I'll admit, I've spent a lifetime calling people of both genders redheads, without giving it a second thought. I'll also admit that red-haired is probably more accurate.
I have a Work in Progress I intend to post on SOL some day. Should I avoid calling people "redheads"?

Replies: Switch Blayde Keet John Demille red61544 irvmull awnlee jawking Goldfisherman Switch Blayde Remus2 samsonjas richardshagrin

Switch Blayde 🚫

@PotomacBob

Redhead is a noun.
Red-haired is an adjective.

They can't be used interchangeably. A redhead is a person with reddish hair.

Keet 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Should I avoid calling people "redheads"?

I'm a reader and I would probably read a subtle difference between 'redhead' and 'red-haired'. For one red-haired is accurate and a refreshing way for a partial description of a person. It sounds more dignified. I feel 'redhead' has a little of a sexual undertone, or at least puts more significance on 'good looks'. To put it bluntly, 'redhead' in most cases gives an immediate idea of a bombshell with long flowing red hair and big tits. 'Red-haired' gives a more neutral idea, more focused on the actual color of the hair.
Should you avoid 'redhead'? Others may have a different opinion but I would say use what you think fits best in the specific situation. Both might even apply to the same character if seen from different point of view from the other characters in the story. How one character perceives another can be a subtle way to show the reader character traits.

ETA typos

John Demille 🚫

@PotomacBob

Should I avoid calling people "redheads"?

To me, redheads are different from red-haired.

When I read red-haired, it could be almost any type of woman who dyed her hair red.

But when I read redhead, I only think of red/orange haired women, whose skin is very white and freckled.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@John Demille

When I read red-haired, it could be almost any type of woman who dyed her hair red.

But when I read redhead, I only think of red/orange haired women, whose skin is very white and freckled.

My wife is both redheaded and red-haired. Mostly because she's reached the age where her hair color is no longer red, but silver or gray, and she's not going for that at all. :)

I, on the other hand, could be described as an educated redneck. But not a cracker, because that's offensive, with the proper term being saltine American. :)

red61544 🚫

@PotomacBob

Bob, you should know that any time you are with a woman and you point out another woman to her, you're wrong! She wasn't correcting your usage, she was telling you to pay attention only to her, not to another woman!

irvmull 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Clearly, it would have been incorrect to say "Look at that red-haired there!"

Red-haired what?

Woodpecker?
No, that's red-headed.

Since gender is so fluid now, it would probably be inappropriate to say "woman", "man", "girl", "boy", so

"redhead" is the only grammatically and politically correct way to say it.

Replies: Radagast

Radagast 🚫

@irvmull

I think the word you are looking for is 'harpy'. A cross between a human and a vulture. Like another cross, the mule, they are sterile, ornery and have a tendency to kicking and braying if approached. Normally they are placid if left alone to graze for hours on end.
They come in red haired, purple haired and green haired variants.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Radagast

A cross between a human and a vulture.

It's commonly held that they normally go by the name, 'Karen'

awnlee jawking 🚫

@PotomacBob

So late BBC presenter Brian Redhead should have been called Brian Red-Haired? ;-)

AJ

Replies: Radagast Radagast

Radagast 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Only if he is a Viking. See Harold Fairhair, etc.

Radagast 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Only if he is a Viking. See Harold Fairhair, etc.

Goldfisherman 🚫

@PotomacBob

most of the time when I see 'redhead' I immediatly think of my cousins who are orange-haired, freckled, with no figure and buck teeth. Red-haired' is a darker red haired, not orange, person much like a brunet or blonde.

Switch Blayde 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

I'm surprised no one thinks of a redhead as a fiery, hot-tempered woman. That's the stereotype.

But, again, "redhead" and "red-haired" cannot be substituted for each other. They are different parts of speech. "Redhead" is a noun, a person. "Red-haired" is an adjective describing that person.

This is redundant, but it makes the point:

Look at that red-haired redhead.

Replies: LupusDei

LupusDei 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Or, I would say, "blue-haired redhead" makes sense despite seeming oxymoron, as in someone who's dyed probably naturally red hair blue.

Red-haired could likely be some "reasonable marron mermaid locks" that "wouldn't be mistaken for natural" hair color.

Remus2 🚫

@PotomacBob

PC and literalism gone mad is what I call that. There could in fact be a red skinned person that is a redhead, but most people understand it to mean a hair colour.

Replies: Radagast awnlee jawking

Radagast 🚫

@Remus2

People who spend hundreds of thousands to obtain a liberal arts degree and imagined social status are going to insist on reminding others of their superiority. See Heinlein's tale of the little lizard who said his ancestor was a dinosaur.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Remus2

There could in fact be a red skinned person that is a redhead

An Englishman after the first day of his summer hols on the Costa Del Sol might be a red-haired redhead. Or a blond-haired redhead. ;-)

AJ

samsonjas 🚫

@PotomacBob

Modern vernacular is "ginger".

Tim Minchin has a great song called "Prejudice" that everyone should listen to.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@samsonjas

Modern vernacular is "ginger".

You call someone 'ginger' in the UK and the Politically Correct Brigade will metaphorically have you coated in honey and staked out for the ants to get you faster than you can add 'whinger' ;-)

AJ

Replies: StarFleet Carl Radagast Remus2

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@awnlee jawking

'ginger'

What if you prefer Mary Anne?

Radagast 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Due to PC, Bill Oddie felt he had to publicly apologized for the 'South African Jockeys' sketch, even though a) it educated 70s kids about Apartheid & b) his black son-in-law thought it was hilarious.

How long until the philistines cancel Monty Python for the Bruces' reference to pooftahs and Abbos? Not to mention I like Chinese.

Replies: joyR

joyR 🚫
Updated:

@Radagast

How long until the philistines cancel Monty Python for the Bruces' reference to pooftahs and Abbos? Not to mention I like Chinese.

The philistines will have to get in line whilst PETA bitches about Python disrespecting a deceased parrot, not to mention bringing the good name of snakes into disrepute.

Then there is the alternative version of "Life of Brian" in which those immortal words are spoken… "He's not the Prophet, he's a very naughty boy". No guesses as to who will be issuing a fatwa about that.

Remus2 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

You call someone 'ginger' in the UK and the Politically Correct Brigade will metaphorically have you coated in honey and staked out for the ants to get you faster than you can add 'whinger' ;-)

What is the significance of the term "ginger" in the UK? As in, why would the PC crowd come after you?

Replies: Switch Blayde Radagast

Switch Blayde 🚫

@Remus2

What is the significance of the term "ginger" in the UK?

I looked it up. It's a demeaning term for a redhead (not just a female).

Replies: awnlee jawking Remus2

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

It's a demeaning term for a redhead (not just a female).

Thanks. Saved me the bother ;-)

AJ

Remus2 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Tried to look up why it would be considered demeaning. All the answers I could find, looked more like people searching for a reason to be offended.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Remus2

Tried to look up why it would be considered demeaning. All the answers I could find, looked more like people searching for a reason to be offended.

That's the origin of many perceived slurs, including racial eg Oriental. They habit of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.

AJ

Replies: Remus2

Remus2 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

perceived slurs, including racial eg Oriental

Outside of western perceptions, most people in the Orient find western PC sensibilities incomprehensible and or funny. Examples being the flap over dunkin donuts black donut in south Korea. The Korean based D&D couldn't keep them on the shelf after that flap, and even when the international corporate ordered them removed, still sold them sans the advertising. In another Korean based flap, the Korean Air crash report from San Francisco.

The fake names the media ran with were provided by a Korean intern within the NTSB. Most Korean nationals were laughing at the 'idiot Americans' which was justified from what heard. Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang din Ow, was obvious to a person who thinks about what they read, but nooo, those idiots ran it as written without verification or any thought on the 6 o'clock news live, as the crew of the craft.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CaOkTKfxu44

Of course the US based PC mafia was out for blood after that. My wife will exclaim Ho Lee Fuk when she thinks I've done something particularly stupid even today. Her entire family thinks the reaction of western PC is pure idiocy. The FAA/NTSB and US media was punked, end of story.

The faux pc outrage crowd would do themselves and the world a favor if they simply took a breath and thought before they reacted.

Radagast 🚫

@Remus2

Rhyming slang. Ginger-->Minger. Minger is slang for a smelly unpleasant person. Throw in red-haired Prince Harry and his wife being official adoptees of victimhood & wokeness and its become a popular internet insult.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Radagast

Prince Harry and his wife being official adoptees of victimhood

His royal discriminatedness might get more whinge fodder soon - the UK is consulting on whether to ban sales of his favourite party drug, nitrous oxide.

AJ

Replies: Radagast

Radagast 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I've heard it referred to as blow, snow, lines and bumps, but never nitrous oxide.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Radagast

'Nitro', 'Hippie Crack'. Harry had to come off the hard stuff in order to join the army.

AJ

Replies: Remus2

Remus2 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Harry had to come off the hard stuff in order to join the army.

And now the idiot lives in the states.. wonderful...

Replies: Radagast

Radagast 🚫

@Remus2

He's allegedly in California, so technically he lives in an altered state.
His RPO's had to be present when he went to score, same as Hunter Biden's FBI detail. A cynic could argue the Praetorian guard never went away and are still selling off the power of Caesar to the highest bidder.

richardshagrin 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

Would a Red head be a communist?

"In fact, before the hair loss made the color irrelevant, communist leader Vladimir Lenin was a redhead, too! So they're widespread enough for people to talk."

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Redhead vs Red-haired

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