Yeah, this is just weird thinking
We have Humans, not Humanette’s or Humanesses, or Humanstrixi, or even thank goodness She-Humans
All the races have two sexes, that clearly do not resemble each other and are distinguishable (Let me just stop anyone before they make a TBC ‘Hurr durr why no Belf males’ joke, for a start, it is dated, and secondly, just pointing out it seems so far to be Orcs, humans and forsaken that question their own Orientation, not the Belves)
In some cases ridiculously so, Draenei males and females look vastly different.
I mean with the best will in the world, you cannot mistake the female of a species for the male of a species (as far as playable ones go).
So it’s just superfluous. It’s not a massive peeve, it’s just something of a linguistic tautology. “I am a Female Gnome who is Female”
Oh My Word. Yes, Every series of that has just been gold dust, Jed Mercurio must have a very twisted mind to allow him to write so convolutedly…
I always thought that She-Orc/Orcess was a play on “She-Wolf” and “Lioness” and such embellishments for predatory animals— or there the logic, anyway. Odd but understandable.
We do see She-Wolf being used in Frostfire Ridge, but directly flipping it to She-Wolf and Orcess is a bit of a stretch. Calling them She-Wolf and Lioness directly is more passable.
It stands to reason that races that have genders would have their own version of Man and Woman in their own languages, you wouldn’t say a Man Orc, or an Orc Man would you? Unless they are an actual half-breed?
While we can dive deep into historical etymology, they are not important here.
To me the key distinction is the absence of ‘hu’. Human.
Of course, humans are arrogant enough to apply terms like mankind and the like to themselves as well.
If it makes you feel better, you can just imagine my character using a racially appropriate yet to us unknown equivalent whenever man/woman is used. Similar to how we use English as an abstraction for the language our characters actually use.
Malgrim Stormhand says: Draka… come join me in the Iron Horde. Lose that armor, and settle down with a REAL MAN. Draka says: A real man would treat his mate with respect! Draka throws her weapon for the killing blow. Draka says: …and he probably would have caught that axe.
From the Battle of Thunder Pass dialogue.