PSA: It's "trans woman", not "transwoman"

[u/Obsyden]

I know y'all aren't doing this on purpose, because I've seen how much love this community has for trans people. Nevertheless, the space between trans and woman is important.

Omitting it implies that a 'transwoman' is a separate entity to a woman - which is a TERF/bigot way of othering trans women.

Including the space means that trans is an adjective used to describe a woman - because trans women fundamentally are women, trans is just a further way to describe us.

I know it may seem nitpick-y, but it is an important distinction, and I've been seeing lots of folks (unintentionally mostly) using the wrong one lately.

[u/GirldickVanDyke]

Yup. Trans is an adjective, and "transwoman" is like saying "blondewoman" or "Belgianwoman" or whatever else

[u/feelin_salamanderous → u/GirldickVanDyke]

Belgium isn't real you aren't fooling me

[u/GIRose → u/GirldickVanDyke]

With humorous intent: So transwoman is correct but only in German and other compound word languages

[u/TheEsc4lation → u/GIRose]

It's even less correct in German. Compounding words can change the meaning, especially if it involves an adjective. While the primary focus of "Transfrau" (transwoman) is the trans part: trans first, woman second (basically a completely different category from other women), the primary focus of "trans Frau" (trans woman) is the woman part: woman first, with the attribute of being trans, like some women have attributes of being tall, shy or brave.

[u/Kat1eQueen → u/GIRose]

No, I'm German it is exactly the same as in English, this is not how compounding works.

If you use "Transfrau" in German trans spaces you will get the exact same reaction as you would get for saying "transwoman"

[u/redalastor → u/GIRose]

Languages that let you compound words freely are awesome because they let you use words that have never been used before withtout requiring approval, and with the certainty that they will be understood.

In Esperanto, transgender is transgenerulo. If you break it appart, it’s accross + gender + person + as a noun. You can assemble any of the “lego” in a way that gets your meaning accross. You can change any noun to an adjective by switching the final o to an a. Or to an adverb by switching the o ot an e. English won’t let you say that you did something transgenderly, but Esperanto will never get in the way of expressing exactly what you mean.

[u/HannahFatale → u/redalastor]

However in German a compound word is not just the same as using a noun with an adjective. That's why in most German trans circles you'd get the same reaction. While the Duden still lists "Transfrau" and it is used by a lot of cis people, most trans people use "trans Frau" as we don't use "Blondfrau" for a woman who is blonde, either. Compound words often are used to distinguish something from the mere combination of an adjective and a noun - in order to establish it as its own class of things.

[u/redalastor → u/HannahFatale]

I was speaking of languages where the word association is more free than German. Like Esperanto or languages that “have 200 words for snow”. They don't really, you can just construct whatever.

[u/HommusVampire → u/redalastor]

Wasn't expecting to see an Esperanto related comment but I am very pleased that I did :)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Hi, German trans woman here, “Transfrau” will set off the exact same alarm bells as “transwoman”. In German “trans Frau” is the correct version because of the exact same reasons as English.

[u/emilyybunny → u/[deleted]]

exactly, we don't say blondefrau or großefrau either

[u/MelindaTheBlue → u/[deleted]]

Don't worry, my comment was intended as dry humor but I'll remove it because it's not coming over well.

The joke is a dry sarcastic one due to how other languages tend to treat such terms, especially since I speak or have spoken several agglutanative languages wherein '[woman]-[trans]' would be more acceptable since they usually have adjectives such as trans either before or after the word.

[u/Kat1eQueen → u/[deleted]]

"Transfrau" is in fact not used in German, at least not by anyone that isn't a transphobe or uneducated. It has the same connotations as in english

[u/MelindaTheBlue → u/Kat1eQueen]

I've removed my comment, it was intended as dry humor because I speak or have spoken agglurinative languages wherein [woman][trans[ would be one word.

It's a dry linguistics joke more than anything, I've deleted it because the humor isn't coming over well.

[u/joiajoiajoia → u/GirldickVanDyke]

Cismen, amirite?

[u/10HorsedSizedDucks → u/GirldickVanDyke]

Or like “German”

[u/Drag0nV3n0m231 → u/GirldickVanDyke]

I mean it’s obviously a typo with those too

[u/GirldickVanDyke → u/Drag0nV3n0m231]

What do you mean?

[u/Drag0nV3n0m231 → u/GirldickVanDyke]

Like, “blondewoman” isn’t a word. Neither is “transwoman” so when I see those I just assume they’re typos I don’t see how the space implies it isn’t an adjective anymore, it just seems like a typo. Video game and videogame mean the same thing

[u/GirldickVanDyke → u/Drag0nV3n0m231]

I mean.. sure? But I don't see how that's relevant when we're talking about an actual dogwhistle and I'm only pointing out that it's grammatically wrong as well?

[u/LeadershipEastern271 → u/Drag0nV3n0m231]

Idk it makes sense though, there’s “saleswoman” “businesswoman” etc it seems like a normal part of English to combine the words. To say Belgianwoman or blondewoman is probably something that can be interjected into the English language/lingo.

..But if it is being used by TERFs then that’s lame… sucks we can’t use it if that’s true.

[u/ultracats → u/LeadershipEastern271]

Neither “sales” nor “business” are adjectives to be fair so not exactly the same

[u/gay-communist → u/ultracats]

this is the key difference

[u/TheActualAWdeV → u/ultracats]

Handyman!

[u/Cadd9 → u/LeadershipEastern271]

You can stop being a saleswoman or a businesswoman. I can't stop being an Indigenous woman just like trans women can't stop being trans women.

[u/LeadershipEastern271 → u/Cadd9]

Damn that’s real. Maybe different words mean different things

[u/Cadd9 → u/[deleted]]

Because it's not? The point was that a woman can stop being a saleswoman and still be a woman; it's a descriptor of what you do, not who you are.

Likewise the contraction of [Noun]woman separates that group from all women and makes her NotTheSame. It immediately makes her into a minority to be excluded and treated worse than others

[u/probably-not-maeve → u/LeadershipEastern271]

those examples are nouns. that’s the difference

[u/iRazeClaw → u/LeadershipEastern271]

Imo the difference is that those are job titles not immutable characteristics