From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!alice!rabbit!jj
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Title: Re: sexless words
Article-I.D.: rabbit.597
Posted: Wed Jul  7 22:28:13 1982
Received: Fri Jul  9 00:46:25 1982
References: uwvax.469

	This is rabbit!jj again <oh no>

Perhaps I should be a bit more specific.  I particularly object to
the word "chairperson" because it does not have the same meaning.

The meaning of chairman is<or was, at least> the "hand" of the
chair<meaning throne>.  Fireman, as Jon (whoever you are)
brings out, is a different case.   It is sexist, besides, what does
a fireman do anyhow?  Set fires?  Firefighter at least conveys
the information in a more descriptive sense.

I do object to making every sentence plural so that I can use
their instead of his/hers, and so on.  Perhaps someone will
fill the need for the third person non-gender-specific pronoun.
It just doesn't work.  I'm not an IT.
<Well, at least I don't think so....>

Oh yes, for the two hate letters <only two, what luck!> :
	My q key is just fine, thank you.

Since this is a language group, I would welcome some real
discussion on how to eliminate the gender discrimination, without
eliminating the information flow at the same time.

Hope to see some real discussion.
rabbit!jj
<poof>