[Vocabulary] confusion in usage

[Proffy]

Is the term bluestocking offensive(in any way) is used to refer to an intellectual woman?

can I have an alternative to 'crocodile tears' expression. Just want to try something new....

thank you

 

[Tdol]

1 It might sound patronising and it has connotations of dowdiness. It's not neutral IMO.
2 Are you looking for another expression and not something like fake tears?

 

[Barb_D]

It also suggests that women should not be intellectual, that a women involved in intellectual pursuits is an oddity.

However, it might be unlikely to offend because I bet 90% of Americans under 30 have never heard this term.

Anyway, don't use it.

 

[Grumpy]

Is the term bluestocking offensive (in any way) if used to refer to an intellectual woman?

Can I have an alternative to the 'crocodile tears' expression. I just want to try something new....

Thank you

I'm an elderly British male - so I'm probably not best qualified to comment!
However, I wouldn't use the expression when referring to anyone living in the present day, mainly because it is out of date. It relates to a period when intellectual women were very much in the minority, and so I might say "My grandmother graduated from university in 1910. She was a real bluestocking in her time", but I would never think of calling my daughter (who got her degree in the 1990's) a bluestocking. Things have moved on, and gender is [thank God] no longer an issue when it comes to intellectual attainment - in the more enlightened parts of the world, at least.

I'm afraid that nothing springs to mind as an alternative to "crocodile tears". Sorry!

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard of "bluestocking".

 

[5jj]

I've never heard of "bluestocking".

What it is to be young!