Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: russ%prism@gatech.edu (Russell Shackelford) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: When You Run Out of Pairs Message-ID: Date: 25 Jul 89 23:00:24 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 66 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 256, message 5 of 5 In article , ben@sybase.com (ben ullrich) writes: > Thanks to Patrick for another nice telecom history tidbit. I did like it. > > BUT, your sexist, female-disparaging remarks leave MUCH to be desired. > > > THE LADY INSTALLER COMES TO VISIT (OR, SHE MEANT WELL, I'M SURE...) [...] > > Brilliant deduction, lady... [...] > > I had to feel sorry for the lady. [...] > > It is interesting to me that this section is preceded by one in which a male > installer who makes a much worse ``blunder'' (disconnecting one of your phone > lines) gets nowhere near the demeaning comments that the ``lady installer'' > gets. The above (quoted) section sounds to me like this installer was > bad simply because she was a woman, and that for some reason women just > aren't as suitable for installers as men are. Or that they are, but > their blunders are blamed on different sources. Disgusting. Wait a minute, please. I agree that the word-choice of the original poster does not conform to current dogma about how one is SUPPOSED to express oneself. However, I think you were a bit quick to jump on him for being "demeaning" and "disgusting". It seems pretty obvious to me that the poster is in Senior Citizen country, recalling things that are historically interesting. His language reflects common word usage among people of his generation. I see no reason to ASSUME that he "meant to imply" x, y, or z. He talks like my father talks, and if his outlook is similar (which I have no way of knowing), he's a pretty good guy who will give people a chance. He just hasn't "hipped" his vocabulary, just as you probably won't when your 65. It seems pretty scary to me when people get jumped on because YOU don't like their pronouns or nouns. He did NOT use "dish", or "babe", or anything else suggestive or demeaning. He just referred to her as "lady". My guess is that most women of his generation find such word choice perfectly acceptable. The milkman calls my girl friend "lady" and jokes with her in a way that reflects stereotyped roles. She likes it, in that she perceives the INTENT as being friendly and neighborly. IF she perceived him as rude or insulting, she'd lay him out quick and he'd remember the confrontation. But he is well meaning and friendly and no harm is done to anyone. How do you know so much about what this guy meant or implied? You don't. YOU are the one reacting to stereotypes, not him. Lighten up. We don't need the Brain Police. There's worse crimes. -- Russell Shackelford School of Information and Computer Science Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332 russ@prism.gatech.edu (404) 834-4759 [A Note From Grandpa: Hey! I don't know whether to say 'thank you', or say, 'a plague on both your houses!'. I am not a senior citizen, although as you say, there are worse crimes! :) I will admit to having a limited vocabularly however. Two yeer's ugo I coodunt even spel Usenest. Now I are a Moderator and a grammpa. The heat is getting to me tonight. 12:45 AM and the temperature is still in the eighties. Your ole grammpa is having a heat stroke and besides it is past his bedtime. Both of your comments will be taken under advisement. Old Grand Dad]