"Housewife" vs. "homemaker" [closed] - English Stack Exchange

There may be a slighty pejorative notion (cf fishwife). Homemaker is a more modern word — OED attests it from 1861 rather than the thirteenth ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Housewife"vs."homemaker"[closed] AskQuestion Asked 9yearsago Modified 6years,2monthsago Viewed 181ktimes 4 Closed.Thisquestionisoff-topic.Itisnotcurrentlyacceptinganswers. Questionsthatcanbeansweredusingcommonly-availablereferencesareoff-topic.Alistofthesereferencescanbefoundhere:Listofgeneralreferences Closed9yearsago. Improvethisquestion Whatisthedifferencebetweenahousewifeandahomemaker?Whencanweusehousewife,andwhencanweusehomemaker? Iamahousewife. Iamahomemaker. Whichoftheaboveexamplesiscorrectforamarriedwomanwhoisunemployed.Sheisfilingoutaregistrationform,applyingforarationcardinIndia.Whichoftheseoptionsshouldshewriteunder'Occupation'? word-choicedifferencesword-usage Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedMay4,2016at6:12 SvenYargs 152k3131goldbadges379379silverbadges691691bronzebadges askedJul17,2013at7:07 JhansiRaniJhansiRani 41177goldbadges1010silverbadges1515bronzebadges 8 2 Tonsofgooddiscussionsheregoogle.com/search?q=housewife+vs+homemaker-ahomemakercanbemanorwoman – mplungjan Jul17,2013at7:39 ThisisOT.Itasks"Whichiscorrect?"and,inthisinstance,thatisnomorethanamatterofopinion. – TrevorD Jul17,2013at12:25 Dependsonwhereyouhappentobe,whoyouareaddressingandifitisaformalorinformalcontext.Insomecontextstheyaresynonymous. – Kris Jul18,2013at14:07 IthinkyouneedadviceastowhatterminologyisnormallyusedinIndia.Thisisa'cultural'question,notspecificallyanEnglishLanguagequestion.Amvotingtoleaveclosed. – TrevorD Jul20,2013at15:23 Whydoyouthinkoneandonlyoneofthoseis“correct”?Whataboutzeroortwoofthem?Andwhatdoes“correct”mean,anyway? – tchrist ♦ Jul20,2013at16:07  |  Show3morecomments 2Answers 2 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 11 Adictionarywilltellyouthattheymeanbroadlythesamething: housewifenoun(pluralhousewives) 1amarriedwomanwhosemainoccupationiscaringforherfamily,managinghouseholdaffairs,anddoinghousework: thetraditionaldivisionoflabourbetweenthehusbandasbreadwinnerandwifeashousewife Iamnotjustahousewife,Iamanaccountant,nurse,negotiator,cook,driver homemakernoun chieflyNorthAmerican aperson,especiallyawoman,whomanagesahome. [ODO] Theremightbeadifferenceinemphasis.Thewordhousewifefocusesonthestateofthewoman[itmustbeawoman!]asawife.Theremaybeaslightypejorativenotion(cffishwife).Homemakerisamoremodernword—OEDattestsitfrom1861ratherthanthethirteenthcenturyforhousewife—anditfocusesoncreatingahomeratherthansimplybeinginahouse.Andit'ssex-agnostic. However,whichisusedisentirelyamatterofstyleandchoice,perhapswitharegionalbias. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul17,2013at7:42 AndrewLeach♦AndrewLeach 95.1k1111goldbadges185185silverbadges297297bronzebadges 3 Andlookingatthediscussionsontheweb,itseemsthatbeingahousewifeimplicatesmuchmorethanmakingthehomecomfortableforthespouseasisimplicatedinhomemaker. – mplungjan Jul17,2013at8:19 1 SlightlyofftopicItakeit,butitdoesperhapsspeakminorvolumesthattheword‘hussy’originatedassimplyacontracted,sloppypronunciationof‘housewife’. – JanusBahsJacquet Jul17,2013at10:56 Dictionariestakeyears,ifnotdecades,tocatchup. – Kris Jul18,2013at14:06 Addacomment  |  2 Besidestheapparentdifferencesbetweenthetwo(givenbydictionaries),youmayconsiderother(offthebeatentrack)differencesalso: Ahomemakerenjoysdoinghis/herwork;housewifehatesit!(Notforallthough.) Also,ahomemakermaynotbeawife.Somepeoplecanevenbehomebuilders! Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul17,2013at16:20 WonderWonder 97411goldbadge1010silverbadges2626bronzebadges 1 WellIhaven'tyetconsideredthat:).AndgladtoseethatmythoughtsmatchedwiththeIndiannorms. – Wonder Jul20,2013at16:17 Addacomment  |  Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedword-choicedifferencesword-usageoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta AnnouncingtheStacksEditorBetarelease! Linked 28 Genderneutralversionofhousewife Related 10 Usageoftheword"technically" 3 Is"theway"synonymof"how"? 2 Usagedifferencesbetween"than","to",and"over" 9 Viewpointvs.Pointofview 3 Tosallyornottosally? 11 Differencebetween"under","underneath","below"and"beneath" 1 Whenthereasonfordoingsomethingis...Nothing HotNetworkQuestions Haveyouheardoftralindromes? WhatisDES-EDE3-CBC? IssueswithClayGolem'sCursedWounds? Atwhatpointdotwolinesextendingfromtheendofathirdequaleachother? Paraphrasing"Themaximumobtainablegapwouldbeameasureofhowdifficultthesystemistocontrol." 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