: Re: Should I use the terms "people" "person" "man" and "woman" in fantasy setting? So I'm writing a story and the setting is that there are two worlds: the world of humans and the world of (insert

@Alves689

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Sure you can. These are the accurate terms and not just a translation convention.

Person and people

The word "person" doesn't mean just humans and it never has. Definitions for "person" tend to be of the form "something with an intellect and a will, but not too weak of an intellect because that's an animal". Humans are the only kinds of people we see on a regular basis, but in philosophy and in fiction it is a well-entrenched idea that the word "person" extends to elves and Martians. Many religions believe that their god is a person. The debate over whether a robot can be a person dominates most stories about robots.

Man and woman

You can use the word "man" and "woman" for non-humans, but you should be careful. "Man" used to mean human, and "woman" etymologically means female human. Tolkien was comfortable using "Man" as the name of our species in contrast to other kinds of people like hobbits and elves. More recent writers are more comfortable using "man" and "woman" for the adult males and females of other humanoid species so you can easily find usages of "Vulcan man" and "elf woman" without irony. I would be happy to use those words for any species that looks human, has two sexes, and reaches adulthood, unless I was deliberately trying to be old-fashioned or using a lot of Tolkien's tropes.

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