Talk:fellow

fellow Democrats
What means "fellow Democrats" ? . Thanks in advance. (from Maria_Cantwell). --147.84.132.44 14:33, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I've added the adjective sense. SemperBlotto 14:40, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I have a lot of trouble accepting the etymology given. (Old Norse fēlagi, from the Germanic bases of two words represented in English by fee and lay.) Is there any incontrovertible evidence for this?

Is it not more probable that fellow is cognate with "follow" which is itself cognate with folk, Volk etc etc. The e/o alternance in proto IE is too well known to require comment.

Surely the primary meaning in English is "one who is like, who is with, who accompanies" ("my fellow Americans" for instance means those who are also American.)

I suggest that the sense of inferiority naturally derives from this, just as "hetairos" (companion) in Greek came to mean an inferior and even, in dialect, "slave". Those who follow, who are companions (=who share the bread [of . . . ]) are almost inevitably inferiors.

'What means "fellow Democrats"  ?' Those who follow. If I were cynical, I would add "baaaah". Impert 00:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Possible revisions, thoughts?
This definition is self-contradictory; the definition "a colleague or partner" is incorrectly (at least in my North American dialect) marked but then under Usage Notes it says "In North America, fellow is generally only used as an academic or medical title or membership, and is dated and quite rare when referring to a man in general," of which I, as a small-n native North American, can definitively say the second part is outright incorrect and the first part totally in logical opposition to the prior  marking and also not correct.

RFC discussion: August 2011–January 2018
The noun definitions are totally unformatted, and I'm not positive we need all of them. -- Liliana • 05:20, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The wording could be improved, especially sense 9, the business title sense. DCDuring TALK 11:19, 7 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Struck. Looks satisfactory to me now. --Gente como tú (talk) 12:27, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

RFV discussion: August 2021
Rfv-sense- it is indeed rare (as the definition says), so I'd like to see three legitimate quotes using this sense- see also this edit summary. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 02:16, 17 August 2021 (UTC)


 * cited (and in spite of the edit summary, the Dickens quote checks out) Kiwima (talk) 06:02, 17 August 2021 (UTC)


 * There is more nuance to this situation than the above 'cited' comment would have you believe. (1) The three citations presented all use the word 'fellow' to describe a woman only after comparing the woman referenced to a man or qualifying the usage as unusual. That doesn't seem like a separate definition more than it does a collection of contorted usages of a word. When combined with the fact that this definition is called 'rare', it doesn't seem like a bona fide definition. (2) Wrong, in spite of the above comment, the original form of the Dickens quote did not check out as a verbatim quote. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 11:17, 17 August 2021 (UTC)


 * Hey, I'm sorry to bother you, but if you have a moment I would like to ask: now that you have found three cites (I still see this as questionable, but good job nevertheless!) should this discussion move to rfd? or maybe the tea room? I have a terrible time determining where the appropriate place is for various discussions. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 23:15, 17 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Either RFD or the tea room would be a good place to raise your concerns. Kiwima (talk) 23:35, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 00:27, 25 August 2021 (UTC)