this is rhetorical:

My coworker, Janice*; is a barista.

I am a baristo.

We are baristi.

Yes? No?

Why?

Why not?

Talk amongst yourselves.

--EDIT-- 05/06/2008
for clarity - and the title "Barista"
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I'd like to know what YOU think of the phrase...

if you're fine with 'barista' that's awesome - but that is not what I'm interested in; but how you feel about it... how do you perceive yourself in that title and how do you project yourself - in any title - toward the public from behind the bar? to your friends? to your colleagues? etc. etc.

can we be more than 'barista'?

--EDIT-- 06/03/2008

I'm not talking about gender-role, I'm talking title; I'm not talking pay, I'm talking perception; I'm not talking about YOU, I'm talking WE.

------------------------
*not a real person

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huh?

a "Bar" in Italy isn't just a coffee stand. It's a bar. You get your espresso there in the morning, and you get your alcohol there at night.

The individual working the bar is the "barista". classic Italian ending implying just that connotation.

I don't know where you heard that, but you might want to give them a schooling!
A female chef is not a chefette. A female attorney is not an attorneyess. Please don't try to place gender differences on "barista". We all do the same thing, why try to differentiate us like that? Women have been denigrated in too many professions and situations for too much of history to take another slap in the face from coffee. You're uncomfortable with a simple A at the end of your job title? I'm uncomfortable that I still have to work harder to get the same respect, face more obstacles to promotions, endure objectification and (in most professions) get paid less than a man. The coffee industry has been the first place that I have always been made to feel like an equal and the term barista is a big part of that. Try to take that away and get ready for some very angry, feminine strength coming down with a fury like hell has never seen. Would you like sugar with that? ;)
Whoa, Jeebus, Chill!

I don't see anything sexist in the inquiry into the inherent gender of a word from another language.

What's got you so worked up? Don't take it out on an innocent discussion of linguistics.
I'm really confused as to why gender was brought into this?

No one has said anything about gender differences in job titles. It was simply asked whether there was different name. The job title had NOTHING to do with status.

Heather Perry, barista, is two time USBC Champion, won 2nd at WBC, 3rd this year, and numerous regional awards amongst her "Best Espresso" awards. There is not and never will be a sexist comment or blog about her from the Specialty Coffee Industry.

There is no way that this discussion would somehow strip, as in to deprive not undress, you of your title and somehow lower your pay. For the most part, we're all professionals here, and something that I've noticed about the coffee industry is the people that work for it. Baristas and Roasters aren't jobs that would benefit from a man and not a woman.

It was just a discussion, nobody's trying to deprive you from your job title.
"My coworker, Janice*; is a barista.

I am a baristo."

"are we not men? ;)
nice...
but really, barista sounds a bit feminine to me; was thinking that maybe we could blur the lines a little...?"

This is what I was responding to with my post about gender - the idea of splitting the title into two words down the gender line. If men start to try to call themselves "Baristo" to feel more masculine, I would just be terribly disgusted and disappointed. That's the point. I haven't experienced sexism in the coffee world and don't want to. I like unity.
But it wasn't related to sexism at all. It was related to the Italian language and word endings. Is confusion a crime?
I think "Barista" could be the root stem of an entire sub-classification of human existance. Just think about the possibilities. Politically, there could be Baristicans and Baristacrats. Sexually, we could be Gayristas, not to mention Bi-ristas, lezristas, even polyristas and pedoristas. NASCARistas could separate into Burtonistas (or 31-istas) or Earnhartistas (Eighty-eightistas). Dog and cat people could be Bow-istias and Arista-cats. City dwelling baristas could call themselves Urbanistas, and baristas from the suburbs could be Burb-istas. This is only the beginning. We could take over the wrold if only we could spell. Any other comments?
cue the crickets
*Cricket*Cricket*

(says the Urban-ista in the corner.)
nice pic. You look like a thug-ista.
Is that your looking-into-the-future-while-being-concerned-for-the-present pose? You and Obama got that look down.
sweet! It took 7 pages to derail this thread!


pretty damn proud of that one... ;)

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