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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!rocksvax!dw
From: dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: women vs girls vs females vs young ladies vs you guys vs hey you vs ...
Message-ID: <1046@rocksvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 19-Mar-85 10:11:57 EST
Article-I.D.: rocksvax.1046
Posted: Tue Mar 19 10:11:57 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Mar-85 06:06:00 EST
References: <460@lll-crg.ARPA>
Reply-To: dw@rocksvax.UUCP (Don Wegeng)
Distribution: net
Organization: Xerox: Henrietta, NY
Lines: 33
Summary: 

In article <460@lll-crg.ARPA> bandy@lll-crg.ARPA (Andrew Scott Beals) writes:
>It really shouldn't matter what words I use, as long as they're not
>explicitly derogatory and I don't mean it in a derogatory sense (one
>should be able to tell from context). So lighten up, already!

I disagree.  Even if it's not intended in a derogatory sense, some people
may still find it offensive.  You now have two basic choices: 1) continue
the practice even though you are aware that it may bother some people, or
2) discontinue the practice out of respect for other people's feelings.
I go with first choice, because even though *I* know that I don't mean
to be derogatory it may not be so obvious to others (no, it's not always
that easy to tell from the context).

We are all human beings.  We have feelings and emotions that often bias
the way that we interpret the world around us.  If we care about how 
others feel we'll try to understand their feelings (or at least acknowledge
them) and do our best to act in a manor that does not bother them, whether
we understand their reasons or not.  To say that the intent is all that
matters seems very simplistic, and seems to ignore the reality of the
situation.  This is true of life in general; it's a shame that most people
don't seem to have figured it out.

/Don
-- 

"Ah yeees, when the ships were wood, and the men were steel."

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csnet:	Wegeng.Henr@Xerox.ARPA
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uucp:	dw@rocksvax.UUCP
uucp:	{allegra,amd,decvax!rochester,princeton}!rocksvax!dw
uucp:	ihnp4!tropix!ritcv!rocksvax!dw