Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site watmath.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!jamcmullan
From: jamcmullan@watmath.UUCP (Judy McMullan)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: genderless pronouns/nouns
Message-ID: <5622@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Aug-83 13:48:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.5622
Posted: Tue Aug  9 13:48:17 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Aug-83 00:31:28 EDT
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 37

mful. A lot of people are avoiding the use of 'he' for women just because
some women don't like it. That is enough reason for them to change.

Some one made what I thought was a good point, the last time we had this
discussion. If you start talking to someone who knows your child's
teacher is a woman and you refer to the teacher as 'he', that person will
correct you and tell you to say 'she'. The word 'he' is NOT really regarded
as genderless.

The whole issue of using male terms for mixed sex groups was re-started in
this newsgroup by someone seeing the phrase "the wise men of netland". The
point is that it would have been incredibly easy to say "the wise ones of
netland" or some such. In my opinion these terms really DO produce a mind-
set, about the sex of the named group, in the reader/hearer. Similarly, use of
the word 'he' to refer to a person of unknown gender or to a female often
confuses the reader/hearer. I have seen it happen more than once -- the rules
of grammar notwithstanding.

I am willing to go along with standards to make communication easier (after
all, I use the One True Brace Style) but not to the point of ridiculousness.
It seems to me to be just plain silly to talk about man-months when the
person who worked every one of the "man-months" was me.

   --Judy McMullan
   ...!{allegra|hcr|utzoo|utcsrgv|bunker|decvax}!watmath!jamcmullan