Until the late 15th century the word ‘girl’ meant a child of either sex. Boys were occasionally called ‘knave girls’ and girls ‘gay girls’. QI Series G,.
As I may have mentioned on occasion, I love reading science fiction books and watching science fiction films. A couple of tomes that really caught my imagination were A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. An underlying theme upon which these tales are layered is that our Milky…