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What would be correct "Businessman's club" or "Businessmen's club"? If there is a difference, British version.

(just in case, or "Businessman club" or "Businessmen club" or any other forms?)

outmind
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  • Nowadays the term "businessman” is viewed as being politically incorrect, and exclusive to one sex. I sometimes hear of a “business person” or entrepreneur depending on context. – Mari-Lou A Dec 19 '21 at 13:19
  • There are examples of "Businessman's Club", "Businessmen's Club", and even "Businessmens Club" (the modern vogue of dropping a non-ownership-signalling association, as in 'Working Mens Club in the UK) to be found on the internet; perhaps these are all non-PC now, as Mari-Lou remarks. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 19 '21 at 16:41
  • Does this answer your question? User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide – Mari-Lou A Dec 19 '21 at 19:19
  • @Mari-LouA Thank you, but the matter of the question is not on political correctness. – outmind Dec 20 '21 at 03:05
  • @EdwinAshworth Is "Working Women Community Centre" in Toronto a political correct phenomenon? – outmind Dec 20 '21 at 03:08
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    I assume you mean usage. ELU is not the platform on which to comment on the acceptability of organisations / society / politics. // I don't know whether reverse discrimination is considered PC nowadays, and opinion doubtless varies worldwide. But as a scientist, I see the names 'Demeter City Working Women Community Centre' and 'Demeter City Working Mens Club' as equally PC / non-PC (wherever on the spectrum the powers-that-be decide to put them). – Edwin Ashworth Dec 20 '21 at 12:12
  • @EdwinAshworth Then probably we on the same page. Yet there is much entropy generated out there. – outmind Dec 21 '21 at 07:40

1 Answers1

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Both versions are OK. Businessmen's club conveys the idea that the club has businessmen as its members. Businessman's club, on the other hand, conveys the idea that this is a club that a typical businessman would join; businessman in that phrase stands for a typical representative of the class of businessmen, and thus, in a way, for the class as a whole, in spite of being grammatically singular.

These are subtly different ideas, but the difference between them rarely makes any practical difference. Both singular and plural versions of such phrases can thus be used for the same purposes, and one can find plenty of examples of both (in both British and American English).

When the relevant noun has a regular plural, any difference between the two versions will be lost in spoken language, and may be lost even in written language, if the writer is careless about the use of apostrophes. It is anybody's guess whether a sign saying Hunters Lodge is intended to stand for a hunters' lodge or a hunter's lodge.

jsw29
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  • There have been discussions about the acceptability of dropping apostrophes for non-ownership/direct possession usages. Linguists accepting this shift would use 'her car's left rear wheel' but 'the childrens clothing department'. The discussions were not careless. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 19 '21 at 16:45