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From: zben@umd5.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Pronouns devoid of gender connotations
Message-ID: <594@umd5.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 18:21:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: umd5.594
Posted: Tue Jun 18 18:21:49 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Jun-85 03:14:00 EDT
References: <2718@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: zben@umd5.UUCP (Ben Cranston)
Organization: U of Md, CSC, College Park, Md
Lines: 29
Summary: Other suggestions have been made...

In article <2718@decwrl.UUCP> koch@piston.DEC 
(Kevin Koch LTN1-2/B17 DTN229-6274) writes:
>>      ... on the problem of what word to use to refer to a person of 
>> unknown gender. ... I don't think any of those solutions is the way to go.  
>> Instead, I think a new word is in order. ... My nomination?  "Zhe."
>> (The zh is pronounced like the z in azure) 
>> 
>     The English language has had *precisely* the word you are looking
>for for hundreds of years now.  Its use sounds no more or less stilted
>than your proposed new word.  It is 'one.' 
>

There are places that "one" doesn't work.  If it did, we would just use it
and this discussion would not have to take place...

A year or two ago I suggested "te" for a general pronoun and "ter" for the
posessive.  Like the "zhe" suggestion, this is close enough to "he" and "her"
for someone new to the usage to pick it up from context.

I was immediately flamed from all sides.  One of the flamers was the now-
famous laura c., and corresponding with her made up for the uncomfort of the
flames.  Nevertheless, the point was made that there would need to be one
whale of a lot of updating of documents and rewriting of books to bring a
big change like this off.  I guess I understand this, but the question is one
of balancing the costs against the advantages.  People will differ on this,
and people being what they are a lot of the flamage will be due to religious
beliefs and not from careful thinking.  Don't let it get you down...
-- 
Ben Cranston  ...{seismo!umcp-cs,ihnp4!rlgvax}!cvl!umd5!zben  zben@umd2.ARPA