4 ms·

"Pythonistas"? It sounds like female, plural. In case of 2 males shouldn't it be "Pythonistos"? (anybody with Spanish around?) I mean, i clicked on the link in

"Pythonistas"? It sounds like female, plural. In case of 2 males shouldn't it be "Pythonistos"? (anybody with Spanish around?) I mean, i clicked on the link intrigued by promise of [rare] occurrence of female programmers expressing their views on Python vs. Ruby, and read the article somewhat surprised and confused by its tone, style and thought flow - as it was dude's thinking, not gal's :) It is a misleading and deceptive advertising practice :)

snprbob86 16y ago
Yeah, I originally thought it was "Pythonist", but some quick Googling corrected me: http://www.google.com/search?q=Pythonista http://www.google.com/search?q=Pythonista
mikeklaas 16y ago
Words that end in -a can refer to both genders, even in latin languages. For instance, 'barista' applies to both men and women in Italy.
- VladRussian 16y ago
  yes, "-a" would lead to "-as". The "barista" has different origins. The Python case is similar to the widely used "fashionista" for females and "fashionisto" for males in the fasion. Thus it is expected to be "pythonisto" and "pythonistos" for male(s) until there is some gender confusion :)
- pdelgallego 16y ago
  AFAIK, you can not apply that in Spanish, You should use the masculine plural gender to refer to both genders, or when the gender of the people is unknown. There are exceptions to the rule, like the one above (Zapatistas) or some professions like "doctores" or "jueces", but they are exception not the rule. There are also many words that dont have a feminine plural, i.e "las soldados", "las jueces", etc
  - nanairo 16y ago
    Actually you can say "las juesas". :) In Italian it is true that the last letter is not a perfect indication of gender... even for people's names (e.g. Andrea should be a male name). But it works pretty well. Not sure if Spanish is similar (i.e. there are exceptions) or not.
philwelch 16y ago
With legitimate Spanish terms like "Zapatista"[1], it's always with the "a". I'm not sure why. [1] Followers of the Mexican revolutionary Zapata, supposedly.

snprbob86 16y ago

Yeah, I originally thought it was "Pythonist", but some quick Googling corrected me: http://www.google.com/search?q=Pythonista http://www.google.com/search?q=Pythonista

mikeklaas 16y ago

Words that end in -a can refer to both genders, even in latin languages. For instance, 'barista' applies to both men and women in Italy.

VladRussian 16y ago
yes, "-a" would lead to "-as". The "barista" has different origins. The Python case is similar to the widely used "fashionista" for females and "fashionisto" for males in the fasion. Thus it is expected to be "pythonisto" and "pythonistos" for male(s) until there is some gender confusion :)
pdelgallego 16y ago
AFAIK, you can not apply that in Spanish, You should use the masculine plural gender to refer to both genders, or when the gender of the people is unknown. There are exceptions to the rule, like the one above (Zapatistas) or some professions like "doctores" or "jueces", but they are exception not the rule. There are also many words that dont have a feminine plural, i.e "las soldados", "las jueces", etc
- nanairo 16y ago
  Actually you can say "las juesas". :) In Italian it is true that the last letter is not a perfect indication of gender... even for people's names (e.g. Andrea should be a male name). But it works pretty well. Not sure if Spanish is similar (i.e. there are exceptions) or not.

philwelch 16y ago

With legitimate Spanish terms like "Zapatista"[1], it's always with the "a". I'm not sure why. [1] Followers of the Mexican revolutionary Zapata, supposedly.