DIVAS OF ROCK

Gimmie Sopor

ratcharge

paperhose Dont know what a Diva is.

Always heard the word used in a negative (~ "whiny"), if not slightly sexist manner (~ "a woman acting way too self-importanly"), so I don't get this thread.

diva
noun [ C ]

a very successful and famous female singer or actor

a person who is difficult to please and behaves as if they are very special or important
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/diva

Anyway, gotta go cook me some eggs.

Gimmie Sopor

ratcharge Always heard the word used in a negative (~ "whiny"), if not slightly sexist manner (~ "a woman acting way too self-importanly"), so I don't get this thread.

diva
noun [ C ]
a very successful and famous female singer or actor
a person who is difficult to please and behaves as if they are very special or important
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/diva

Anyway, gotta go cook me some eggs.

English is not my first language, so there are nuances that I do not fully understand. However, I have always assumed that diva is not necessarily a negative term in English. Diva is also a word in Swedish, but it is only used to describe snobbish people who are full of themselves. Maybe it's the same in France? In Swedish you can also say that a man is a diva, but I think that in English it is only used about women.

paperhose

ratcharge As usual continental european understands english better than natce speaker.

Not sure original posters intention, but it appeared that some posters were trying to 'reclaim' the terminology. Making it a positive not a negative? For example, the other response to my query of what is a diva.

It appears that fame and success are not the standards to be a diva of rock, as many cult figures appear in posts above.

filthqueen666

By diva I just mean a really iconic and unique woman performer.

Randall

filthqueen666

It’s the #1 definition of the word. Seems pretty clear to me

Uptown ruler 666 420

Junko Hiroshige
Mayuko Hino
Adris Hoyos

ratcharge

Gimmie Sopor Diva is also a word in Swedish, but it is only used to describe snobbish people who are full of themselves. Maybe it's the same in France?

Yeah this could be why I find it odd : it’s the same in French, at least in its modern use & as far as I can tell. So I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used in a positive way (except maybe by really posh people talking about their fave opera singer or something).

ratcharge

Gimmie Sopor In Swedish you can also say that a man is a diva

Yeah this too.

ratcharge

Anyway, this all reminded me of the existence of this current band from Paris :

ratcharge

Lincoln

Alright, thanks! Had no idea.

paperhose Not sure original posters intention

He just wrote "By diva I just mean a really iconic and unique woman performer", so there's that.

Still can't help seeing this thread as some kind of weird ghetto for naming random bands who only share one characteristic (i.e. being fronted by women), but hey, no big deal and maybe that's just me.

v

paperhose it appeared that some posters were trying to 'reclaim' the terminology. Making it a positive not a negative?

In my opinion it has already been reclaimed socially, by the queer scene at least, where the term is used to describe a femme icon; whether it be a drag queen, icon of rock (like this thread), et cetera.

What is also really fascinating is that 'prima donna' also has this double meaning, where one meaning is sarcastic while the other is genuine...

Lincoln

If it helps our Euro comrades, the word diva is Italian:
It is derived from the Italian noun diva, a female deity. The plural of the word in English is "divas"; in Italian, dive [ˈdiːve]. The basic sense of the term is goddess, the feminine of the Latin word divus (Italian divo), someone deified after death, or Latin deus, a god.

Randall

ratcharge the poster is a woman and it seemed to me she wanted to talk about iconic women in the underground rock scene, but she could speak to her intentions better than I. Also there are tons of threads everywhere that the common characteristic is that the groups are made up of men. Don’t really think wanting to talk about women or bands featuring women is a bad thing

ratcharge

Randall

« but hey, no big deal and maybe that's just me. »

filthqueen666

v thank you, V. This first paragraph sums up exactly what I was thinking.

Uptown ruler 666 420

what else are you supposed to call Tina Turner?

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