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Path: utzoo!watmath!saquigley
From: saquigley@watmath.UUCP (Sophie Quigley)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: "mylady" vs "Ms"
Message-ID: <7541@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 14-Apr-84 11:00:28 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.7541
Posted: Sat Apr 14 11:00:28 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Apr-84 05:41:23 EST
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 71

From Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo

> I do not like Ms. because I do not like
> mindlessly altering a language to fit the current intellectual
> fad.  Language altering reminds me of 1984 and duck-speak.  Desexing the
> language will hardly end sex descrimination.  Japanese has no grammatical
> category for sex (no separate pronouns he,she or it).  Yet, Japanese
> culture seems to be one of the least sexually egalitarian on the earth.
> 
> I am not sure what in my reply to Milady Quigley's article "Rape in Lybia"
> merited this ad hominem attack but if I was arrogant towards her, I
> publicly apologize.  

Mr Martillo, I know you were kidding in your usage of "mylady" as a substitute
for "Ms" in the rest of your article, but I nevertheless find your attitude
very disconcerting (to say the least).  Since you realise that "miss" or "mrs"
are improper in this discussion and you feel the need for a address that does
not reflect my marital status, you proceed to use one which is completely
archaic and probably insulting to the women it refers to, even though there
exists an address which is acceptable and widely used in our current society.
I do not want to insult you, but I think this tells us a lot about you: you
will continue to call us women as you damn well please with no consideration
whatsoever to our feelings on the matter.  "Mylady" was apparently also a fad
since it is not used anymore.  In general, how do you distinguish fads in
languages with other uses? there is no "Academie" in english regulating what
can be used and what can't, this leaves the language open for evolution.  Other
languages such as french, which are tightly regulated have a lot of trouble
keeping up with new technology and social customs.  The fact is that a language
is a communication tool, when new ideas appear, you need new tools to express 
them.  Controlling the evolution of new expressions is as restrictive as
controlling the usage of old expressions (since you mentioned 1984).  Both are
a form of thought-control and each is just as dangerous as the other.
You refuse to use "Ms", yet since you are using computers, you are probably
using other words which are even newer than "Ms", some of which will probably
be even more "faddish" than "Ms" since the computer technology is evolving so
fast.

> 
> >>> I believe the word is clitoridectomy and there are Muslim women who defend
> >>> the operation.  The person who carries out the operation is a woman.

As a matter of fact, we had a discussion on clitorectomies/clitoridectomies a
few months ago on the net, and I tried to figure out at the time which one was
the correct word of the two.  I used clitoridectomy originally, but everybody
else used clitorectomy, so I decided to check in my dictionaries.  The only
one which had either was a french dictionary.  In french, the word is
"clitorectomie".  This + the fact that everybody else used "clitorectomy"
made me change to "clitorectomy".  So, I would be very pleased if anybody
could confirm which of the two words is the correct one, from a dictionary.

Of course there are many women who defend the operation.  The fact still
remains that at the international level, it is mainly men who defend it,
simply men are the ones who participate mainly in international affairs
(UNESCO etc..).

> Milady Quigley is one of the more outspoken contributors to this net
> group and would have informed me of any impropriety on my part.  Mr.
> Perlow was presumptious to act on her behalf unless he is acting at her
> request.

I did not complain because I was away for a week.   I spend a lot of time
on the net and do not mind it at all if other people say things which I
intend to say because that means less work for me.  I do not think Mr
Perlow was "acting on my behalf" but simply participating in the discussion.
I think he would only be improper if he claimed incorrectly to be acting at my
request, which he did not do.  Knowing him, I can tell that he probably would
not do such a thing, but even if he did, I would certainly point out that he
was wrong.

Sophie Quigley
...!{clyde,ihnp4,decvax,allegra}!watmath!saquigley