"i am frivolous...

...then I feel guilty." - Catherine Deneuve

I'm confused. A few years ago, it seemed like everyone suddenly stopped using the word "actress," and everyone, from Sidney Poiter to Meryl Streep was now to be called an "actor." While I'm not interested in going as far as the British with gender-identified professions -- manageress is a little much -- actress never seemed like overkill. It also has never struck me as a diminutive, like some feminized forms. Dame Judy Dench is hardly minimized by the "ress."

But these days I feel like I'm hearing the term again. Am I accidentally telepathic? Did my unvoiced mental musings make it into some producer's ears, and prompters were suddenly re-programmed?

And this is really the least of my questions. But we have to start somewhere.