A writer writes about writing. Right…

Handiman?  Handyman?  I never know.  Spellcheck says go with the “Y” spelling, but spellcheck also doesn’t think spellcheck is a word.  How existentially delicious!

I suppose “Y for Y-chomosone” is a good mnemonic for a gendered word anyway.

Anyway.  However you spell it, I am not one.  A handyman, that is.  So far my crowning success in home improvement projects has been a wine rack that kind of looks like a modern art sculpture of a centipede climbing my wall.

We bought the rack in March and I think it went up some time around September, so the record isn’t that impressive even if you do like centipedes (I don’t, as it happens).

O Best Beloved is actually far more dedicated to hanging decorations than I am, and better at it, which gives a bit of a lie to the “man” part of “handyman.”  For that matter, I have a friend who basically built all of her shelving from scratch; I struggled to get a pre-cut shelf screwed down onto pre-made supports.

So I’m curious how the very handy ladies of the world like to handle (ha!) this particular gendered noun.  Is there an equivalent, gender-neutral word that I’m forgetting that could fill in?  Are they embracing “handyman” as their own?  It is the 21st century, after all; I think a girl can be a man,  handy or not, if she likes.  Or do we go the gender-binary route and go with “handywoman?”

On a related note, are male flight attendants just called “stewards?”

Anyway.  My brain might be a bit scattered today.  It’s a little frostbitten, on account of the heat going out and me being helpless (see above) until the repair…person shows up.

How’s your gender construction going this winter?  Leave a comment — it will distract me from the growing numbness in my toes.