In English a man is “blond” (rubio) and a lady is “blonde”. Blond and blonde mean fair complexion and light-coloured hair. In this context “blonde” and “blond” are adjectives. Here is a simple example:
- Mr.Trump is blond.
“Blonde” and “blond” are also nouns. Consider these:
- The tall blond bought a hat.
- The tall blonde bought a hat.
In the first example, the “tall blond” is a man, given the spelling. You could have written “the tall blond man bought a hat”. That would be a tautology (repetition of the same idea and likely to confuse ordinary mortals), as the word “blond” can only refer to a man.
However, the Americans only use “blond” (for male and female). So imagine the confusion when an Englishman reads: “she is blond”. Is the mistake with “she” or “blond”? Who knows? Ask Mr. Trump.
There would also be confusion when the Americans write “the tall blond bought a hat”. For an Englishman, the reference is to a male. For the Americans, which gender bought the hat – male or female? Ask Mr. Trump.
