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I was thinking of recent postings here while I was watching the Ladies match at my cricket club yesterday. I noticed that our team were fielding with ten men, and I asked Pat Batt, our opening batsman, about it in the bar afterwards.
“One of the girls couldn’t make it, so we were a man short. We haven’t fielded with ten men before, so we did away with the third man, and it worked well” she explained.
“I’m glad you use the normal language of the game” I replied.
“Yes, we don’t talk of batters and the like.”
“That reminds me.” I said. “Are you still working in the chip shop?”
“Yes, I have been promoted. I do the battering of the fish, sausages etc. Much better than wrapping chips.” she replied.
“I suppose that makes you a batterer” I suggested.
“Battereress, actually” she chuckled, “It’s a word widely accepted in the fish-and-chip industry. Just like actress, and temptress which was in the Times crossword today.”
That may be so, but I cannot see the Style Guide recommending the word.

Jigjag, I hope you enjoyed the match itself as much as seeing the correct terminology used? It was a shame to hear that the inelegant 'batteress' is widely used in the fish and chip industry.

I might reward myself with fish and chips tonight as I have a day of drudgery lined up. I've to wait in this morning for various repairs to be done. There's a plumberess coming to fix a leaking tap, a joineress is going to rehang a couple of doors, and a carpenteress is coming to give me a quote for building a small bookcase to fit in a corner of the upstairs landing.
My afternoon will be equally 'exciting' as I have a lot of shopping to do. I am hoping the butcheress will have some nice chops and that the bakeress has some fresh apple pies. I'd wondered about having a word with the candlestick-makeress, but her place seems to have vanished from the High Street. The cobbleress and the watchmakeress are no more too, a real shame.

Although I used to dislike many of the words you and Grunger favoured, I hope this latest post shows you that people can change, I am a reformed characteress now.

Nice one, jigjag @674.

I hope malone @675 did not deliberately omit that lovely extra er in battereress.

I think temptress is unusual in that there isn't really its male equivalent of tempter in the same sense. It's hard to think of similar examples. Perhaps it tells us something about human sexual mores.

Thanks, Paul. I don't know if the 'er' omission was deliberate or accidental - I remember jijgjag musing on the two versions the other day. And yes, I too have pondered about 'temptress', never having seen a male equivalent.

Maybe there isn't a male version of temptress because of Eve? I thought it was temptor, but it isn't.
Is there a male version of seamstress? Tailor, tailoress. My spell checker doesn't like tailoress.

Rosalind, 'seamster' is in Chambers - 'a person who sews'. Although a woman can obviously be a 'person', we also have 'seamstress', a woman who sews.

PaulH@676, perhaps I can offer another example…

A psaltress is a women who plays the psaltery (a medieval stringed instrument). There appears to be no male equivalent for such a player.

Rosalind @678, I thought you had hit on another example there with seamstress, until malone came up with seamster. Good point about Eve as temptress. Though it's possible that women are simply more attractive (or devious) than men, but I would say that, wouldn't I? 😊

Seamer brings us back to cricket of course. I am sure jigjag's ladies wouldn't refer to that type of bowler as a seameress.

You are quite right, jono @680. I have just found additional confirmation with the Scrabble Word Checker - PSALTRESS but no PSALTERER.

Curiously HARPIST has no gender distinctions, though I have usually seen the instrument played by women. Harpo Marx is a shining exception, of course.

Malone

What a wonderful day for you. You have done very well to get all those appointments on the same day. I struggle to get an -er, never mind an -ess to do any jobs for me, although British Gas sent a fitteress to service the fire last week. I agree it is a pity that the trades are disappearing particularly your candlestickmakeresses. The local chandleress is closing soon, to be replaced by a bookmakeress.

Paul

I am not sure how the Ladies team refer to seam bowlers, or spinners also. I dont imagine they use the -ess suffix, but I will ask on Sunday when they have their last match of the season.