Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!adm!xadmx!rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov From: rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov (Root Boy Jim) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: sexist language Message-ID: <17574@adm.BRL.MIL> Date: 17 Nov 88 17:56:00 GMT Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL Lines: 51 ? From: Doug Gwyn ? In English as it existed before the recent politicization of the language, ? there were two genders, masculine and feminine. Unlike Latin and some ? other languages, English has no separate neutral gender. In cases where ? neutral gender would be appropriate, it has long been an explicit rule of ? the English language that the masculine form be used. It could just as ? well have been the feminine gender but it wasn't. Some uniform choice ? was needed and made so long ago as to almost be prehistory. Even female ? writers of English literature followed this rule without complaint. I don't think there must be a uniform choice to be unambiguous. Consider that many traditional `Women's Magazines' usually use `she' and `her' to refer to their readers, even tho it is quite likely that at least one male will read the article. ? If anything, you could say that this rule discriminates against males, ? because in some cases it can be difficult to tell whether "he" refers to ? a person explicitly male or just to a generic person, whereas "she" ? always unambiguously indicates a female. Interesting point. I suppose we should bring up the distinction of Miss/Mrs. vs having only Mr. for men. Supposedly, there is also the title `Master' for men as well, but it seems to have died out. ? To say that the rule in any way reflects unfavorably on females ? would be ludicrous were it not for the adverse effect on readability ? that this widespread belief is now having. There is more widespread evidence that it really IS starting to bother some female readers and writers. ? If you think English is bad, I advise you to steer clear of Spanish, ? where even inanimate objects are either masculine or feminine. Really. Sometimes they don't make any sense at all. ? Folks, it really doesn't matter so long as the rules are consistently ? applied, to maximize readability. By messing around with the language ? in a blatant attempt to foist political ideas on the general public, ? a severe disservice to the English-speaking population is being done. For an excellent treatise on the subject by one of our own, see `Metamagical Themas', by Douglas Hofstadter. One of his essays uses `ble' and `whe' to differentiate between black and white speakers, and in spite of my general distaste for awkwardly convoluting the language as some people have I was quite impressed. (Root Boy) Jim Cottrell (301) 975-5688 or Crackers and Works -- Breakfast of Champions!