D-girl
n.— «“D-girl” is the movie industry sobriquet for a woman who works in the murky world of “development.” Men dominate most of the power jobs in the industry-directing, producing, running studios-but women reign supreme in the Big D, development.…There are probably about 100 D-girls in Hollywood. Perhaps a fourth are really young men, but women are so prevalent in development that even the men often are referred to as “D-girls”—and even appear that way on many agency lists.…The term D-girl has evolved into common usage in recent years and represents at once nothing more than a joking reference to their lack of power in a power-mad world and a telling reminder of the sexism that pervades the movie business.» —“D-Girls: The Women Behind the Scripts” by Anna McDonnell Los Angeles Times Aug. 23, 1987. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...