From: utzoo!watmath!watarts!bernie
Newsgroups: net.women
Title: Re: Genderless pronouns and non-sexist writing
Article-I.D.: watarts.1794
Posted: Thu Apr 28 10:20:41 1983
Received: Thu Apr 28 23:57:54 1983
Reply-To: bernie@watarts.uucp (Bernie Roehl)
References: yale-com.1366

Yes, it's true that 'wer' and 'wif' were the original "sexist" terms
to distinguish male from female, and that "man" was considered neuter.
(As an aside, it's interesting to note what's become of 'wer' and 'wif';
'wer' really only endures to the present day in the word "werewolf" (i.e.
a man-wolf), while 'wif' has become 'wife'.  The latter is an example of
a general term used to describe a women having become a more specific term
to refer to one's wife.  (The same thing happened in German; 'frau' means
both 'woman' and 'wife', depending on context)).
I suspect that the 'neuter' terms being introduced to day will have little
or no effect, simply because no one will bother to use them (and those who
do will be considered silly for doing so).  Language doesn't evolve because
people say it ought to, it evolves because there is a natural and widely-felt
need for it to do so.
				--Bernie Roehl
				...decvax!watmath!watarts!bernie