Yes, it’s actually taking an anglicised Norman French suffix and applying it to anglo-saxon words denoting occupation. For several centuries the British Isles were under Norman occupation. Indeed several Kings of England in the early years didn’t even speak English. Frnech was the lingua franca (literally) for England and much of the official business was done in French. As such, while most -or words at one time had the -ess/-rix applied to the end, most have fallen into disuse as England has returned to native governance.

Howver, due to the official capacity of Norman French, titles, especially legal and governmental titles, have retained their old gendered spellings. Actor at one point refered to anyone who did anything, or acted. It shifted in modern usage to be mostly in reference to the stage/screen arts. But even today actor is used in the legal world to refer to the party taking action. As a result, it has been one of the words that retained its form.

As to whether or not it should stay that way, there’s a permanent debate going on in linguistics circles regarding when a linguistic change crosses over from bad spelling or grammar to a true linguistic shift. I guess my point in saying that is if people who do it for a living can’t draw a nice clean line in the sand that everyone agrees on, it’s not likely to be resolved here.

Aremis

Again, LOL. Excellent website!

Um, yeah it is. It’s the same as director, conductor, benefactor, objector, elector, and about a billion other verbs that end in “ct”. When referring to a person (or thing) who performs the action, you add the suffix “or” to the verb. “Actress” is not a special circumstance, just an antiquated term.

Regardless, they do look a lot alike — no doubt intentional on Caillat’s part. I would never have given her CD a second glance without the resemblance.

Wow.

That said, you are hardly the only one expressing this opinion, so this comment is equally directed at everyone else having kittens over the fact that they don’t look alike in their opinion.

i act, am a female, and quite prefer the title ‘actor’. what i have between my legs and my preferred gender has nothing to do with my title as actor, imo.

Surly it should be actress?

Lolz