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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!rutgers!ames!xanth!kent
From: kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: pronouns for Bryce
Message-ID: <2293@xanth.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Dec-69 18:59:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: xanth.2293
Posted: Wed Dec 31 18:59:59 1969
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Aug-87 08:49:15 EDT
References: <8708191546.AA07324@cogsci.berkeley.edu> <2793@hoptoad.uucp> <8708200011.AA09857@cogsci.berkeley.edu> <2214@xanth.UUCP> <336@ge-mc3i.UUCP>
Reply-To: kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan)
Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk Va.
Lines: 30
Keywords: Pogo wisdom
Summary: All this time I thought I WAS "people".  Darn.
Xref: mnetor comp.sys.mac:6151 comp.sys.amiga:7905

In article <336@ge-mc3i.UUCP> sterritt@ge-mc3i.UUCP (Chris Sterritt) writes:
>>In article <2214@xanth.UUCP> kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
>>>In article <8708200011.AA09857@cogsci.berkeley.edu> bryce@COGSCI.BERKELEY.EDU (Bryce Nesbitt) writes:
>>>>~~ Some linguist should come up with a neuter personal pronoun and eliminate
>>>>this sexist "he" or "she" stuff from modern literature.
>>>possessive case, with the vowel sound a little shorter and less structured
>>>Actually, one pretty good attempt I've seen uses "ser", which sounds like a
>>Kent, the man from xanth.
>
>NO NO A MILLION TIMES NO!!!!! Linguists DO NOT DICTATE LANGUAGE!!!! NO ONE
>HAS EVER EVER EVER SUGGESTED SUCH A "FIX" FOR ANY HUMAN LANGUAGE AND HAD IT
>STICK (except in France).
>
>THIS IS JUST INCREDIBLY BOGUS.  You are absolutely confused on the role of
>people in language: No doubt you read William Safire.  Language is invented,
>changed, and updated by the PEOPLE, not the Academicians. 

Well, I'm more of a computer geek than a linguist, in spite of the family
background.  I have this strange feeling that except for a few Amigas and
cats that have been blamed for postings, the net is mostly made up of
people.  If everyone on the readers list for comp.sys.amiga started using
some agreed upon set of sex-neutral pronouns in speach and writing (where
appropriate), exactly two "steps" (I tell all my acquaintances, they tell
all theirs) would blanket the Continent, and three would probably encompass
the English speaking world.  It seems a lot simpler expressed that way.

In the realm of sexist language usage, I can but quote Walt Kelly's Pogo:
"We have met the enemy, and they are us."

Kent, the man from xanth.