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From: mjv@ihu1e.UUCP (Vlach)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: gender specific pronouns again
Message-ID: <500@ihu1e.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Jul-85 23:18:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1e.500
Posted: Tue Jul 23 23:18:35 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 07:26:20 EDT
References: <539@ttidcc.UUCP> <28228@lanl.ARPA>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 23

> > What does that do to the stance that the pronoun "he" already stands for
> > everybody (and not just male people)?

[much deleted]

I know that he is often used in a generic sense, but since he means a male
person in many cases, I always thought it was sort of obnoxious.  I don't
feel like the average "he", that's for sure.  I sometimes use "one" for a
non-specific gendered third person.  That's something I picked up from
French, where it is used a great deal.

Side note: In the book "Oh! Pascal", the authors explained that since most 
books used he for the third person, they were using she to make it more
even.  I thought it was a nice gesture.  It was used consistantly
throughout the book and was no problem in reading.

I hope this 3rd person business can be fixed up.  I was frequently chastised 
in English classes for not having my antecedents agree, because once I had 
said "someone" I couldn't bring myself to call them a HIM or HE unless this
were the case, so I used they or them all the time.  To think being a
feminist can ruin your grammar. :-) 

		Marcia Bear, somewhere in this known universe