*nod* Aviatrix and so forth. I've mostly seen "woman" as an adjective in direct opposition to "male" in the same position, though. I wonder if it's a fumbled attempt at a lack of sexism: "We have woman poets and we have mustn't say 'real', what can I put here? male poets." Sort of that "woman" and "lady" have been used as (usually diminutive) adjectives, but "man" and "gentleman" haven't, so the speaker turns to ordinary English rules and pulls out the real adjective "male".
Hmm. That doesn't explain your original example, though. Any chance they were doing something bizarre, like having records for girl children but not for boy children? Or female aliens? (Our records show that Xsdjfk is the 430th most common name among Jovians....)
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Date: 2003-07-29 07:49 pm (UTC)Hmm. That doesn't explain your original example, though. Any chance they were doing something bizarre, like having records for girl children but not for boy children? Or female aliens? (Our records show that Xsdjfk is the 430th most common name among Jovians....)